from him and that for that cause he multiply'd them and separated them from all other Nations not suffering them to make Alliance with them that he brought them out of the Land of Aegypt with those mighty Signs he wrought for them that he fed them with Manna in the Wilderness that he led them into a flourishing and plentiful Land that he gave them Kings and a Magnificent Temple therein to offer Sacrifices to be cleansed by shedding their Blood and that he might at last send them the Messias to make them Masters of all the World. 4. * The Jews were accustom'd to see great and wonderful Miracles and looking upon the great wonder of dividing the Red-Sea and the Promis'd Land but as an Epitome of the great things to be perform'd by the Messias they expected he would do far greater Wonders and that all Moses had done was only a Pattern 5. * Having therefore persisted in these Carnal Errors Jesus Christ came in the fulness of time but not in the outward Splendor as was expected and therefore they did not believe it was him After his Death St. Paul came teaching Men all these things were but Figures that the Kingdom of God was not in the Flesh but in the Spirit that the Babylonians were not Mens Enemies but their Passions that God dwelt not in Temples built with hands but in an humble and contrite Heart that the Circumcising the Body was nothing but that of the Heart 6. * God not being willing to discover these things to this unworthy People and being pleas'd nevertheless to foretel them that they might be believ'd plainly foretold the time and sometimes spake of them plainly but for the most part in Types to the end that those who liked things Mystical should be satisfi'd and those who liked things prefigur'd might see them therein Upon this account it was that when the Messias appear'd the People were divided those that were spiritual believed in him those that were Carnal rejected him and remain'd to be his Witnesses 7. * The Carnal Jews understood not the greatness nor the humiliation of the Messias foretold in their Prophesies They did not know him in his Greatness as when 't is said The Messias shall be Davids Lord although he be his Son that he was before Abraham and had seen him they did not think him so great as he was from all Eternity neither did they know him in his humiliation and in his Death The Messias say they abides Eternally and this Man says he shall dye they did not believe in him Mortal nor Eternal they only sought in him a Worldly greatness 8. * They so much loved the things figuring and so intirely expected them that when the Substance came in the time and manner foretold they were wholly ignorant of him 9. * Those that have pain to believe seeking a Cause wherefore the Jews believed not If it were so evident say some why did they not believe But 't is their refusal is the very ground of our Faith We should not be near so forward to believe had they believ'd we should then have had a far greater pretext not to believe and to doubt It is admirable to see the Jews to be such great lovers of Predictions and yet Enemies to the accomplishment thereof and that this aversion it self was foretold 10. * To give credit to the Messias it was requisite that there should be preceding Prophesies that they should be made by Persons unsuspected and of great dilligence and fidelity and of extraordinary Zeal known to all the World. To bring all this to pass God chose this Carnal People to whose keeping he commited the Prophesies which foretold the Messias as the Redeemer and dispenser of Carnal things which they so much doted upon so that they had an extraordinary Zeal for these Prophets and published to all the World the Books wherein the Messias was promis'd assuring all Nations that he was to come and in the very manner foretold in their Books which they expos'd freely to every Bodies sight But beâ—ng deceiv'd by the Messias his coming in a mean and poor Condition they became his greatest Enemies so that it is come to pass that the People that were the most unlikely of any in the World to favour us do appear for us and by the Zeal they have for their Law and Prophets do bear and keep with the greatest exactness imaginable our Evidences and their own Condemnation 11. * Those who rejected and crucified Jesus Christ and to whom he was a scandal are the very Persons that preserve the Books that Witness of him and that mention that he shall be an offence and scandal therefore in denying him they plainly shew it was him and he was equally prov'd to be the Messias not only by the righteous Jews that believed in him but also by the wicked Jews who rejected him both being foretold by the Prophets 12. * Therefore it is the Prophesies were hid those that were Spiritual which this People hated under the Temporal which they loved had the Spiritual Sense been discover'd then they would not have liked it and not being able to support it they would not have been so Zealous in preserving their Books and Ceremonies And if they had loved these Spiritual promises and that they had preserv'd them uncorrupt till the coming of the Messias thâ—â— Testimony had not been so strong because of their favouring them therefore it was convenient the Spiritual Sense should be hid But on the other hand had the Spiritual Sense been so hid that it had not been discern'd it would not have serv'd to prove the Messias What then was done This Mystery was hid in a number of passages under Temporal things and yet was plainly shew'd in some besides the Time and State of the World were foretold as cleaâ— as the Sun at Noon day and this Spiritual Sense is so plainly manifested in some places that not to know and discern it requires as much blindness as the Flesh imposes on the Spirit when 't is subject to it See here the way of Gods governing things This Spiritual Sense is vail'd with another Sense in a great many places and shew'd plainly in some but very seldom indeed yet in such a way that in those places where 't is hid it may be understood both ways whereas in the places where it is manifested it can be taken but in one sense and can only agree to the Spiritual So that this could not lead into Error and there could none but so Carnal a People as they were be therein mistaken For when good things were promis'd abundantly what hinder'd them from understanding true Spiritual Riches but only their Covetousness that understood it of Worldly Riches But those whose hope and trust was in God referr'd these things to God only for there are two things that divide the Will of Men Covetousness and Charity not but that Desire may subsist with Faith and Charity with the
Indifferency if he has the least Spark of Reason and how stupid soever he has been coming to know himself he ought to consider whence he came and what shall become of him Monsieur Pascall having reduc'd him to this Condition of desiring to be inform'd of so weighty a Doubt in the first place he directs him to Philosophers and having there discover'd to him all that the greatest Philosophers of all manner of Sects have said of the State of Man he shews so many Defects so many Weaknesses Contradictions and Absurdities in what they have alledg'd that it is no hard matter for Men to judge that they cannot there find any safety Then he makes him reflect on the whole Universe and on all Ages and shews the many Religions that is Profess'd but at the same time he shews him by undeniable Arguments that all those Religions are compos'd but of Vanity and Folly of Errours and Extravagancies and that he cannot yet therein find any thing may satisfie him At length he makes him look on the Jews and in them he shews such extraordinary Circumstances that they easily Attract his Attention having shew'd what this People had that was Peculiar he particularly insists in mentioning an only Book whereby they are Govern'd and which contains both their History their Law and Religion One no sooner opens this Book but that one finds the World is the Work of God and that it is the same God who did make Man after his own Image and that he invested him with all Benefits of Body and Mind suitable to that State. Although there has been nothing yet that convinc'd him of this Truth yet it is very grateful to him and Reason alone suffices to shew that he finds more likelihood that God made Man and all things in the World than in all that Men have fansy'd by their own Imaginations What most puzzles him is That by the Description made of Man he is very uncapable of Possessing the Privileges that belonged to him when he first came out of the Hands of his Creator but he does not long continue in this Doubt for persisting to Read this same Book he therein finds that Man being Created by God in the State of Innocence and enjoying all manner of Perfection the first thing he did was to Rebel against his Maker and to employ all the Benefits he received to displease him Monsieur Pascall makes him understand this was the greatest Crime that could be in all its Circumstances it was punish'd not only in the First Man who thereby falling from his first State was plung'd in Misery in Weakness Errour and Ignorance but also all his Posterity are thereby Polluted and Corrupted to all ensuing Generations Then he shews him several places in this Book wherein he has discover'd this Truth he lets him see that there is scarce any more mention made of Man but in reference to this State of Weakness and Corruption that it is often repeated that all Flesh is Polluted that Men have given up themselves to their Lusts and that they are prone to Evil from their Birth He shews also that this first Fall is the Spring not only of what is most incomprehensible in the Nature of Man but also of a great many Effects that are without him and whereof the Cause is unknown to him To conclude he represents Man in such Lively Colours in this Book that he does not appear to differ from the first Original that he found out 'T is not enough to have shewn to this Man his State of Misery Monsieur Pascall shews him farther That in this same Book he shall find matter of Comfort and in Effect he shews him that 't is said that the Remedy is in the Hands of God that it is to him we must have Recourse to have the Helps we stand in need of that he will be intreated of us and that he will send a Saviour to Men that will pay a Ransom for them and that will restore them to Life and Happiness Having explain'd unto him a great many particular Remarks touching this Book and People he farther makes him consider that it is that alone that makes due mention of the Soveraign Being and that gives a Right Notion of a True Religion he represents the most sensible Marks which he referrs to those contain'd in this Book and he inclines him particularly to consider that it makes the Essence of true Worship consist in Loving and Adoring God which is a peculiar Character and that does visibly distinguish it from all other Religions whose falseness appears by want of this Essential Mark. Though Monsieur Pascall had led this Man on so far whom he intended insensibly to convince having not yet said any thing to him that might confirm him in the Truths that he discover'd to him nevertheless he put him in a State of receiving them with satisfaction provided he may be assur'd that he ought so to do and wished with all his Heart that they may be certain and well grounded seeing he therein found such great Benefit for his Repose and for satisfying his Doubts This is the State every Reasonable Man should be in if he duely consider'd the Consequences of the things Monsieur Pascall Treated of and it might justly be hoped that then he would soon submit to the Proofs that he after alledged to confirm the certainty of the weighty Truths which he asserted and which make up the ground of the Christian Religion which he design'd to teach To speak something briefly to those Proofs having shew'd in General that the Truths in Agitation were contain'd in a Book the certainty whereof no Man of Sense ever question'd he insisted particularly on the Books of Moses wherein these Truths are more especially to be found and he shew'd by a great many undeniable Circumstances that it was alike impossible that Moses should have Recorded Untruths or that the People to whom he committed them should suffer themselves to be Cheated had Moses a design to do so He spake also of all the Miracles that are mention'd in this Book and being of great concern to the Religion therein contain'd he made appear it was impossible but they must needs be true not only by the Authority of the Book wherein they are contain'd but also by the Circumstances wherewith they are attended and which render them Infallible He shew'd also how all Moses's Law was Figurative that all which hapned to the Jews was only the Figure of the Truths accomplish'd at the coming of the Messias and that the Veil that cover'd these Figures being taken off it was easie to see their accomplishment and full Consummation in regard of those that believed in Jesus Christ Monsieur Pascall afterwards undertook to prove the Truth of Religion by Prophecies and he inlarged very much on this Subject more than on any other having taken much pains therein and having particular Abilities to this purpose he explain'd them in a very full and clear manner
bounded his Curiosity to things Natural And he was often heard say that he added this Obligation to all the others he owed his Father who being himself very Pious and Religious he infus'd the same Thoughts into him from his Infancy laying him down this Maxim That whatever is the Object of Faith cannot be of Reason and much less can be Subject to Reason These Instructions being often inculcated by a Father whom he mightily esteem'd and in whom he saw there was much Knowledge accompany'd with a powerful way of Expression did so work on his Mind that what ever Discourse he heard made by Debauch'd Libertines he never was much concern'd at it and though he was very young he look'd upon them as Persons holding this wrong Principle That human Reason is above all things and as such who could not distinguish Nature from Faith. But to conclude having thus passed his Youth in Employments and Divertisements that seem'd harmless enough in the sight of Men God so wrought on him that he made him clearly perceive that Christian Religion obliges us to Live wholly to him and to make him our chief End and Object And this Truth appear'd so evident to him so profitable and so necessary that it made him resolve to sound a Retreat and by little and little withdraw himself from all Worldly concerns that he may thereunto the better and more effectually apply himself This Design of sequestring himself that he might lead a more Christian and Austere Life enter'd into his Mind in his younger Years and even then it inclin'd him to leave off his Study of Prophane Sciences that he might the better apply himself to those things that concerned his own Salvation and also that of other Men. But frequent Sicknesses whereto he was subject hindered for a time the executing his Designs until he came to be about Thirty years Old. It was about this time he began to set about it in good earnest and the better to effect it and at once to shake of all Impediments he remov'd his Habitation and afterwards went into the Country where he remain'd some time being come back he so well shew'd he intended to quit the World that at last the World forsook him In his retirement he fix'd the manner of his Living on two chief Maxims which was to renounce all Pleasure and Superfluity these things he had ever in view and he indeavour'd to persevere and perfect himself therein daily more and more It was his continual Practice of these two Maxims which made him shew so much Patience in all his Sickness and Sufferings by which he was scarce ever free from Pain all the Course of his Life it made him Exercise very strict and severe Mortifications on himself so that he refus'd not only to deny his Senses what might be pleasing to them but also would without difficulty or regret and with Pleasure take those things that were irksom to them whether it was Food or Physick this inclin'd him also daily to deny himself every thing that he suppos'd was not absolutely necessary as well in Apparel as Diet as also in Furniture and in all other things whatsoever and this inspir'd him with such a great Love of Poverty that it was always in his Thoughts and when he intended to undertake any thing he would presently consider if it might be consistent with a State of Poverty so that he had such a Tenderness and Compassion for the Poor that he never refused an Alms to any Poor body and many times he gave very considerably even out of that which he wanted for his own support this made him that he could not indure to study his own Conveniencies and that he often condemn'd this over great Curiosity and desire of excelling in all things as of being serv'd by the best Workmen in having always apparel of the best and most Fashionably made and a thousand other such things as are done without difficulty it being thought there is no hurt in it but he did not think so and to conclude it made him perform several other Remarkable Christian Exercises which I will not here relate to avoid Prolixity it being not my design to write a Life but to give some Ideas of Monsieur Pascall's Piety and Vertue to those that did not know him for as for those that did and were acquainted with him the last Years of his Life I do not pretend to inform such and make no question but they know very well that I pass over in silence many other things that might be here inserted Approbation of the Bishop of Amiens WE have Read the Posthumus Book of Monsieur Pascall which required the Authors care in finishing it although it contains but Fragments and seeds of Discourse yet therein may be perceiv'd great Curiosities and Beams of Sublime Light. The force and loftiness of the Thoughts do sometimes amaze the Mind but the more they are weigh'd the plainer they are seen to be drawn from the Philosophy and Theology of the Fathers A Work so imperfect fills us with Admiration and Grief that there is no other Hand that can finish these first Essays but that which knew how to ingrave so lively and great an Idea nor that can Comfort us for the Loss we suffer by his Death The World is oblig'd to the Persons that have preserv'd such Precious Remains although they are not fil'd and polish'd such as they are we make no doubt but they will be very useful to those that love the Truth and their own Salvation Given at Paris where we chanc'd to be about the Affairs of our Church the 1st of November 1669. Francis of Amiens Approbation of the Bishop of Cominges THese Thoughts of Monsieur Pascall shew the Beauty of his Wit the Solidity of his Piety and his Profound Learning they give so Excellent an Idea of Religion that without any great difficulty one submits to what is more abstruse in them They so fully teach the chief Points of Morality that they presently discover the Spring and Progress of our Disorders and the Means of avoiding them and they so savour of all other Sciences that it may easily be perceiv'd Monsieur Pascall was not ignorant of any Human Learning Although these Thoughts are only the first Lines of Reasonings he mus'd upon yet nevertheless they contain a great depth of Knowledge They are but Seeds yet they produce Fruit as soon as they are sown One Naturally finishes what this Learn'd Man intended to say and the Readers themselves become Authors in an Instant by making but a little serious Reflection Nothing therefore is fitter profitably and pleasantly to entertain the Mind than the Reading of these Essays how imperfect soever they at first seem to be and according to my Judgment the perfectest Productions that has for this long time appear'd do not better deserve to be Printed than this imperfect Book doth At Paris September 4th 1669. Gilbert Bishop of Cominges Approbation of Monsieur Camus Dr.
this Law may be easily seen only by Reading it where it doth appear that all things are dispos'd with so much Wisdom Equity and Judgment that the Antientest Greek and Roman Legislators having some knowledge of it have form'd their principal Laws by it which appears by that they call their Laws the Twelve Tables and by the other Proofs mention'd by Josephus But this Law is at the same time the strictest â—nd most rigorous Law in the World obliging this People to keep them within bounds in observing a thousand particular laborious Duties under pain of Death so that it is as wonderful that it should always be kept for so many Ages by so head-strong and impatient a People as this whereas all other Nations chang'd their Laws from time to time although more easie to be kept 2. * This People is yet more admirable in their Sincerity They keep with great respect and fidelity the Book wherein Moses declares they have ever been ungrateful to God and saith that they will be so also after his Death but he calls Heaven and Earth to witness against them that he hath warn'd them of it that to conclude God growing displeas'd at them would disperse them over the Face of the Earth that as they provok'd him by Worshipping those which were not Gods he would provoke them by calling a Nation that was not his People nevertheless this Book that renders them so perverse they keep it as safe as their Life It is a sincerity that cannot be equall'd in the World nor has not its Root in Nature 3. * Moreover I do not find any cause at all to question the truth of this Book which contains all these things for there is a great difference betwixt a Book made by a single Person and that he disperses amongst the People and a Book that is made by a whole People 4. * This is a Book made by Authors that were contemporaries any History that is not Contemporary is Suspitious as the Books of the Sybills Trismegistus and many others that have been cry'd up in the World and have been found false afterwards But 't is not so with Contemporary Authors §. IX Of the Injustice and Corruption of Man. 1. MAn is visibly made for thinking it is his greatest Merit and Dignity his whole Duty is to think as he ought the true method of thinking is to begin by ones self by ones Author and by ones latter End. Nevertheless what is it is thought of in the World Seldom of these things but of taking ones Pleasure of growing Rich of getting Reputation of becoming a King without thinking what 't is to be a King or to be a Man. 2. * The thought of Man is a thing admirable by Nature It must needs have very great faults to be undervalu'd yet it has such that nothing is more ridiculous How great is it by its Nature how despicable through its Defects 3. * If there be a God he it is that ought to be lov'd and not the Creatures The Reasoning of the Wicked in the Book of Wisdom is only grounded upon this That they perswade themselves there is no God this being granted say they let us enjoy the Creatures But had they known there is a God they would have concluded the quite contrary And it is the conclusion of the Wise There is a God let us not therefore enjoy the Creatures Then all that invites us to cleave to the Creature is Evil because it hinders us either from serving God if we do know him or to seek him if we do not â—now him Now we are full of Concupiscence â—hen we are full of Evil therefore we should â—bhor our selves and every thing that fastens to â—ught else but God only 4. * When we would think of God how maâ—y things do we find that would hinder us and â—hat tempt us to think of something else All â—his is Evil and even born with us 5. * It is not true that we are worthy others â—hould love us it is not just we should desire it were we born reasonable and with any degree of Knowledg of our selves and others we should not have this Inclination yet 't is born with us then are we born unjust Every one seeks-himself this is against all order we should be for the general to be for ones self is the beginning of all disorder in War Peace and Oeconomy c. 6. * If the Members of Societies Natural and Civil tend to the good of the Body the Societies themselves should tend to a more general Body 7. * Whoever hates not in himself this Self-love and this instinct of preferring himself above every thing is very blind seeing there is nothing more opposite to Justice and Truth for it is false that we deserve it and it is unjust and impossible to attain to it seeing all desire the same thing It is therefore an evident injustice that we are born in which we must free our selves from and yet we cannot divest 8. * Nevertheless no other Religion but the Christian ever observ'd this was a Sin nor that we were born in it nor that we were bound to resist it nor ever thought of prâ—scribing any Remedies 9. * There is an intestine War in Man betwixt Reason and the Passions he might enjoy some rest had he Reason and not Passions oâ— had he Passions and not Reason but having both the one and the other he cannot be without Wars not being able to have Peace with the one without having variance with the other so that he is always divided and contrary to himself If it be an Ignorance which is unnatural to live without searching what one is it is yet a far more terrible one to live ill in believing God All Men almost are in one or the other of these two Mistakes §. X. Jews 1. GOD intending to shew that he could form a People Holy with an inward Holiness and fill them with an Eternal Glory did accomplish in the things of Nature what he was to have done in those of Grace to the end it might be seen that he could do things invisible seeing he did those that were visible He sav'd his People from the Deluge in the Person of Noah he brought them out of the Loyns of Abraham he redeem'd them from their Enemies and brought them into a Land of Rest The design of God was not to save from the Deluge and cause a great People to proceed from Abraham only to bring them into a Land of Plenty but as Nature is a Symbol of Grace so these visible Miracles are Images of invisible ones that he design'd to do 2. * Another Reason why he made the Jewish Nation was that intending to wean his People from Carnal and Perishable things he would shew by so many Miracles that 't was not for want of Power 3. * This People was plung'd in these Earthly Thoughts that God lov'd their Faâ—her Abraham his Body and what should proceed
taliter omni Nationi said David speaking of the Law But speaking of Jesus Christ it must be said fecit taliter omni Nationi Also it appertains to Jesus Christ to be Universal The Church offers Sacrifice but for Believers only Jesus Christ offered that of the Cross for all 13. * Let us then spread forth our Arms to our Redemer who having been promis'd Four thousand years at last came and suffer'd and dyed for us upon Earth in the time and in all the Circumstances as were foretold And waiting through Grace to dye in peace and hope of being Eternally united to him let us in the mean time live with comfort whether it be in enjoying the good things he shall be pleas'd to give us or in bearing the Evil things he is pleas'd to send on us for our good and that he has taught us to suffer by his Example §. XV. Jesus Christ prov'd by Prophesies 1. THe greatest Proofs of Jesus Christ are the Prophesies it is also what God most of all provided for the success that fulfill'd them is a Miracle that subsisting from the first begining continues to the end of the World. God raised up Prophets for the space of Sixteen hundred years and for Four hundred years after he dispersed these Prophesies with the Jews that carry'd them into all parts of the World see here the preparation of the birth of Jesus Christ whose Gospel being to be believed all the World over it was not only requisite there should be Prophesies that it might be believed but also that these Prophesies should be divulg'd through all the World that it might be believ'd by all Men. 2. * If any one Man should have writ a Book of Predictions of Jesus Christ for the time and manner and that Jesus Christ should come in the manner as was Prophesi'd it would shew a very great clearness But herein is more here is a Succession of Men for the space of Four thousand years that constantly and without any variation come one after another and foretell the same Event A whole Nation affirm it and which subsist Four thousand Years and that in a whole body give Testimony of the assurances they have of it from whence they cannot be diverted for any threats or punishments can be inflicted on them this is very considerable 3. * The time is foretold by the State of the â—ewish People by the State of the Gentiles by the State of the Temple by the number of Years 4. * The Prophets having given divers Signs that were to happen at the coming of the Messias it was requisite all these marks should be fulfill'd at the time and so it was necessary the Fourth Monarchy should succeed when Daniels seventy Weeks were accomplish'd that the Scepter should then depart from Judah and that the Messias should come And then did Jesus Christ appear who called himself the Messias 5. * It is foretold that in the Fourth Monarchy before the destruction of the second Temple before the power of the Jews was taken away and in Daniel's Seventieth Week the Gentiles should be instructed and brought to the knowledg of the same God ador'd by the Jews that those that lov'd him should be deliver'd from their Enemies and fill'd with his Fear and Love. And it hapned that in the Fourth Monarchy before the destruction of the Temple c. the Gentiles in great multitudes Worshipped the true God and lived Angelical Lives Virgins consecrated their Lives to God renouncing their Pleasures What Plato could not perswade a few chosen Men to do a secret Virtue perswades a Hundred thousand ignorant Persons to do by the help of very few words What 's the meaning of all this It is what was Prophesi'd so long time before hand Effundam spiritum meum super omnem carnem All Men wallowed in Lust and Infidelity all the World became warm with Charity Princes renounce their greatness the Rich forsake their Riches Virgins suffer Martyrdom Children quit their Fathers Houses to live in Deserts Whence proceeds this Courage It is because the Messias is come these are the effects and marks of his coming For the space of Two thousand Years the God of the Jews was unknown to the infinite numbers of Gentiles and in the time foretold infinite numbers of Gentiles Adore this only true God. Idol Temples are destroy'd whole Kingdoms submit to the Cross What 's all this It is the Spirit of God that is powr'd forth on the whole Earth 6. * It is foretold the Messias should come and Establish a new Covenant that should make that of Egypt be forgotten that he would write his Law not on outward Tables but in the Heart that he would put his Fear which was but exteriour in the inward part of the Heart That the Jews should refuse Jesus Christ and that they should be forsaken of God because the chosen Vine yielded nothing but sower Grapes That the chosen People should be unbelieving ingrateful populum non credentem contradicâ—â—tem That God would strike them with blindness and that they should grope at Noon Day like the Blind That the Church should be little in the beginning but should increase afterwards It is Prophesi'd that in those days Idolatry should be destroy'd that the Messias should cause the Idols to fall and should bring Men to the true Worship of God. That the Temples of Idols should be destroy'd and that throughout the World they should offer him a pure Service and not Beasts That he should teach Men the perfect way That he should be King of Jews and Gentiles And there never came any Man before nor since that taught near so much as this 7. * So many Persons having foretold this coming Jesus Christ came saying Behold me this is the time He came telling Men they had no greater Enemies then themselves that 't is their Lusts that keep them from God that he came to deliver them and to give them his Grace to chuse to himself out of all Mankind a Holy Church that he came to bring into this Church Jews and Gentiles that he came to destroy the Idols of the one and the Superstition of the others What the Prophets foretold should come to pass I tell you my Apostles shall accomplish The Jews are on the point of being forsaken Jerusalem shall soon be destroy'd the Gentiles shall know the true God and my Apostles shall instruct them in the Worship of God when ye have slain the Heir of the Vineyard Afterwards his Apostles said to the Jews You are forsaken and to the Gentiles You shall enter into the knowledge of God. Unto this all Men have aversion by the Natural opposition of their Concupiscence This King of Jews and Gentiles is supressed by the one and the other and both conspire his Death All the Powers of the World conspire together against this Religion in its Infancy the Wise the Learned the Kings of the Earth some write others
the World. One has no need to turn about nor to give themselves any inconvenience there needs only to have a clear sight but it must be clear for the Principles are so fine and in such great number that 't is almost impossible but they will be lost now the omission of one Principle leads into Error So that one must be clear sighted to perceive all the Principles and then the Judgment sound not to reason on false Principles All Geometricians should then be Witty had they a clear sight for they don't Reason ill upon the Principles they know and the fine Wits would be Geometricians could they but turn their sight towards the unaccustomed Principles of Geometry The cause therefore that some great Wits are not Geometricians is that they can by no means turn themselves to the Principles of Geometry but the Reason that Geometricians are not subtil is because they don't see what is before them and that being accustom'd to the plain and clear Principles of Geometry and not to discourse till after they have seen and examin'd their Principles they are at a loss in matters of Wit after which manner Principles are not handled they can scarce be seen one understands rather than sees them it is very difficult to make them be understood by those that don't understand them of themselves They are things so nice and in such great number that one must have a clear and quick Sense to perceive them and yet not be able to shew them in order as in Geometry because one does not know the Principles and would be a thing impossible to undertake All at once one must see the thing at one view and not by a gradual Reasoning at least to a certain degree So that 't is seldom Geometricians are Witty or that the Witty are Geometricians because Geometricians will handle witty things Geometrically and thereby make themselves ridiculous going about to begin by Definitions and then afterwards by Principles which is not the manner of proceeding in this kind of Reasoning not but the mind doth it but it does it silently naturally and without Art the expression of it is beyond the power of Men and the knowledge of it belongs but to very few Refin'd Wits on the contrary being thus accustomed to judge at one view are so startled when there is laid before them Propositions that they don't understand and for the clearing of which they must pass through difficult Principles and Definitions that they were not wont to see so particularly that they are soon wearied and discouraged But false Wits are neither subtil nor Geometricians Geometricians that are only Geometricians are of a subtil Wit provided that all things are explain'd to them by Definitions and Principles else they are false and insupportable for they are not right but upon Principles well explain'd And the Witty that are nothing but Wits have not patience to descend to the first Principles of imaginary and speculative things which they never have seen in the World nor in Custom 3. * Death is more supportable when 't is not thought of than 't is to think of Death without peril 4. * Sometimes it happens that one takes such Examples to prove certain things that these very things may be taken to prove the Examples which yet nevertheless works its effect for one often thinks the difficulty is in what one would prove one finds the Example more clear so when one would represent a general one gives a particular Instance in some case but if one would shew a particular Case one begins by the general Rule One always finds the thing difficult that one would prove and that clear that one emploies to prove it for when one proposes a thing to prove it ones Imagination is taken up that the thing is obscure and on the contrary that that which is to prove it is clear and so 't is easily understood 5. * We think all Men conceive and feel after the same manner the Objects which present themselves to them but we are much mistaken for there is no Proof of this I find the same words are apply'd in the same occasions and when two Men for instance look upon Snow they both of them express the sight of this Obiect by the same Words in saying it is white and by this likeness of Application one draws a strong conjecture of a Conformity of Idea but this is not absolutely convincing although the greater odds is in the affirmative 6. * All our Reasoning tends only to submit to Knowledge But Fancy is like and contrary to Knowledge like because it doth not Reason contrary because false So that it is very difficult to distinguish betwixt these Contrarieties One says my Opinion is Fancy and that his Fancy is Knowledge and I say the same on my side there is need of a Rule Reason offers it self but it is pliable to every Sense and so there is none 7. * Those that judge of a work by Rule are like those that have a Watch in Comparison of those that have not One says We have been here two Hours another says 'T is but three quarters of an Hour I look on my Watch I say to one You are tired and to the other Your time passes away pleasantly for 't is an Hour and a half and I laugh at those that say that the time seems tedious and that I judge by Fancy they don't know that I judge by my Watch. 8. * There be some that speak well but don't write well it is that the place the support c. warms and draws from their Mind more than would probably be found there without those helps 9. * What there is of good in Montaigne's Book is not to be had without difficulty What there is of ill I mean except Conversation might have been corrected in a Moment had he but been warn'd that he wrote too many Stories and spoke too much of himself 10. * It is a great mischief to follow the exception instead of the Rule one must be severe and contrary to the exception Nevertheless it being certain there be exceptions from the Rule one must judge severely but withal justly 11. * It may be truly said in one sense that all the World is in a mistake for although the Opinion of the People is sound yet they are not so in the Brain because they think Truth is where it is not Truth is indeed in their Opinions but not in the part they think it is 12. * There are but few that are capable to invent there are very many that are not capable and therefore by consequence the greater number and 't is commonly seen they refuse to the inventors the Glory they deserve and that they seek by their Inventions if they go on resolutely and will have it and go to undervalue those that cannot invent all they get for their pains is That they are called by ridiculous Names and are termed Dreamers One must therefore take
with the more Joy the satisfaction of their Doubts that they should be taught at the same time the Remedy of this Gulf of Miseries wherein Man is incompassed and wherein it cannot be imagin'd how those who are without hope of Delivery can find any Rest It is against this surprizing Rest Monsieur Pascall most of all invey'd and one shall find him mov'd against it in all his Writings with so much Force and Eloquence that 't is hard to listen to what he says without being concern'd and those Persons who have set up their Resolution and that say they know what they have to do yet if they seriously consider'd it could scarce avoid being shaken and he did not think they could have the least spark of good Sense that did not yield to it And having suppos'd that a reasonable Man could not rest therein no more than in the Ignorance of his true State past and to come he caus'd to be sought out all things that could give him any Light and first examin'd what those had said who are called Philosophers But he had not much trouble to shew that 't was no hard matter to be satisfi'd that all they had done was nothing else but to contradict one another That they had found out so many sorts of true Happinesses that 't was impossible any one of them should have found the true one because in all likelihood it must be of that Nature that one could not be mistaken in it and false Happiness cannot be like it If it chanc'd that any amongst them attain'd to know Man was born Miserable none of them ever thought of giving the Reason of it nor so much as to enquire after it although there 's nothing in the World more worthy to be sought after Some of them Figur'd Man great notwithstanding what he finds in himself of low and mean. Others again represented him Vile notwithstanding the instinct which lifts him up Some of them taught Man was Disposer of his own Happiness others that he was Miserable without Recovery Some that he was capable of all things others that he was of nothing To conclude there was no Sect that spake so well of him but that every body found in himself the quite contrary Man not able to satisfie himself herein nor yet to give over so necessary an Inquiry and thinking 't was not Men like himself and Ignorant as he is from whom he could expect to find information Monsieur Pascall made him call to mind that it may be he and such as him had a Maker that was able to Communicate himself to them and give them some Marks of their Original and of his Design in giving them their Being And thereupon taking a view of the whole World and all Ages he discover'd a great many Religions but not one of them was able to affect him Being indued with Sense he comprehends something of that which may consist with a Sovereign Good if there be one and of what he has reveal'd to Man in case he reveal'd himself to them at all as he must needs have done if there be any such thing as true Religion But instead thereof what finds he in his Inquiry Religions that take rise with certain People and expire with them Religions wherein several Gods are ador'd and Gods more ridiculous than Men Religions that have nothing Divine nor Spiritual in them which tolerate Vice which sometimes are setled by force sometimes by falshood Religions without Authority without Proofs or any thing Supernatural having nothing but a gross Carnal Worship all consisting in outward Shew savouring of Man and wholly displeasing to Almighty God the which leaving Man in a like Ignorance of the Nature of God and of himself doth serve only more and more to shew whereunto the Folly of Man doth extend To conclude rather than to make any choice or to fix his Rest on any of those he see he would rather choose to be his own Executioner and at once to rid himself out of so Miserable a Condition when being just ready to fall into Dispair he discover'd a certain People which of a sudden drew his Attention by a great many singular and wonderful Circumstances It is the Jewish Nation of which Monsieur Pascall observes so many things throughout his Thoughts and whole Book That if one has the least measure of Curiosity one cannot chuse but inquire and search into it They are a People that issu'd all from one Man they had ever a great care of not making Alliance with other Nations so that by preserving their Genealogy they could give to the World a History worthy of Credit rather than any other Nation whatsoever it being in effect nothing else but the History of one sole Family and therefore cannot be subject to any great Confusion howsoever 't was a Family so numerous that had there been any deceit used 't was impossible the Nature of Man is such but that some one or other would have discover'd and made it known Moreover this History being the oldest of any it cannot have borrow'd any thing of others and for that very Reason it deserves a peculiar esteem and veneration For whatsoever is said of the History of China Japan c. with half an Eye one may perceive they are but ridiculous Fables and this is True. The more one examins those the more their Falshood is discover'd whereas the more this is search'd into it confirms it self and becomes undeniable And to conclude when there is occasion to hear mention made of Men fallen from the Sun or sprung up out of Mountains and of Men Created by an Omnipotent God one must have very little Judgment of things to be one Moment in suspence which is the most likely to be True. This Man overjoy'd of this Discovery resolv'd to relie on it as his chiefest Stay and presently found that this so great a People Govern'd themselves by one only Book which contains both its History its Laws and Religion and all this so compact and inseparable that he the more admir'd it and was fully perswaded that if any part of it be true all the rest must needs be so too But what 's remarkable is he no sooner opened this Book but with the History of this People he there also finds that of the Creation of the World that Heaven and Earth are the Works of Gods hands that Man was Created and that his Maker made himself known to him that he put all other Creatures under his Subjection that he made him after his own Image and by consequence endow'd him with Knowledge and Light and capable of Truth and Happiness free in his Knowledge and in his Actions and in a perfect Conformity of his Desires to Justice and right Reason For to conclude it is what signifies the resemblance to God which Man cannot approach to in the Body and is the Breath of Life wherewith God enliven'd him which is nothing else but a Beam of that most pure
and intelligible Life where of his Essence is compos'd To say truth here are many Doubts remov'd and that very easily The Eternity of the World which is so difficult to conceive and the accidental meeting of a few Atoms are things doubtless not very easie to be imagin'd when there is need to explain the admirable Order of the Universe the production of Beasts and Plants the curious Fabrick of Mans Body and more especially what is meant by Thought and Soul 't is hard to be believed this Eternity and these Atoms do appear to hang so well together and that the Understanding is not very forward to submit to the Belief of it How happy would this Man think himself if he could find the Truth of these things he would be willing to part with any thing on Condition this beginning of discovering Truth might succeed But as he would not fix on a rest wherein there may be any doubt and that he fears as much to be deceived as to rest in the incertainty he is in he resolves to search fully into the thing and to examin it with the greatest exactness may be In the first place he observes as a Circumstance that can't sufficiently be admir'd that the Pen-Man of the Holy Bible did comprize many and great things in one Chapter and that but a very short one and whereas 't is the Nature of most Men to make the smallest things look Big and that any one else would have thought it unbecoming to Treat of so weighty a Subject so unconcernedly he is amaz'd to see this Man speak so plainly of it and being to be lookt upon as a Person chosen to reveal it to Men that he so little indeavour'd to put a value on himself by flattering his Readers or in setting a Gloss on what he said or taking any heed of proving it So strange or rather so singular a way of proceeding doubtless deserves extraordinary Respect and 't is very likely that whoever could Treat of things of this Nature in this manner knew very well that their value consisted in their own Truth without having need of other Ornaments and that he was also verily perswaded that they were either well known or very easie to be believed Nevertheless of a sudden there appears a difficulty that can scarce be surmounted and at the same time one sees That if it be a God that Created the World and that he himself gave a Testimony of the goodness of his Works Man must needs be made in the State before recited yet one finds himself so quite another thing that one knows not scarce what to think Very far from taking ones self for the Image of God we don't find the least resemblance of God in us and the more we know our selves the less shall we find our selves inclin'd to obey God whom we ought in all things to resemble It is certain we should be but little enlightn'd should we stop our Inquiry here it would argue great negligence and guilt not to make farther Progress in so weighty an Inquiry For this very first view that 't is God made us is attended with so many Circumstances that nothing but fear of finding more than we seek for can hinder Men from inquiring more distinctly into it This very Man that Monsieur Pascall thought uncapable of this great fear of knowing his Duty and that too well knew his inability of himself to determine a thing of so great Importance stopt not there and stay'd not long before he was better inform'd For he perceiv'd soon after that the same Man we describ'd to be so inlightned and so much Master of himself had no sooner known his Maker but he offended him The first use he made of so precious a Gift as Liberty was to Transgress the very first Commandment he had received and all of a sudden forgetting what might justly be thought a Creature owed to Almighty God who was but newly taken from the Dust of the Earth to enjoy the whole World and to know and serve his Creator he aspir'd to quit his dependance and by his own Skill to acquire the knowledge God was pleas'd to hide from him and in a Word aspir'd to become his equal It 's not needful to use many Words to shew nor much Wisdom to comprehend that this was the most horrible Crime that could be in all its Circumstances and it was Punish'd as it deserv'd For besides the Death wherewith Adam was threatned he also fell into a deplorable State which could not be better shewn than by that bitter Irony that he had the Grief to hear from the Mouth of God For instead of continuing an Image of the Holiness and Justice of his Creator as he might have done and of becomming like him as he thought to have done in that same Moment he lost all those Advantages that he had not rightly improv'd His Understanding became obnubilated God hid himself from him in impenetrable Darkness he became a Child of Wrath and a Slave of Sin of all the Light and Knowledge he had he only retain'd a faint desire of Knowledge which was of no other use to him but to increase his Torment he had no other benefit and use of his Liberty but to commit Sin and found himself wholly uncapable of doing good At last he became that incomprehensible Monster call'd Man and moreover imparting more and more his Corruption to all that proceeded from him he replenish'd the whole World with poor blind guilty Creatures like himself It is what is to be found at large in the following part of this Book for Monsieur Pascall supposing that one could not chuse but be allur'd by so great a view and representing it with much earnestness and also all that 's contain'd in the Old Testament it may be observ'd that what 's therein Treated is the Corruption of Man of Mens giving themselves up to their Vile Affections and their Inclination to Evil from their very Infancy and inlarging upon the things which render this Book remarkable and worthy of Respect he shew'd that 't was the only Book in the World wherein the Nature of Man was truly describ'd in its Greatness and in its Misery and discover'd to him the State of his Heart in a great many places Whatever he had discover'd in studying himself he therein found it very clearly The Reading hereof having created as 't were a new Light in the Darkness of his Soul he not only discern'd more plainly what he already had seen but he also found a great many things that he had not thought of and that were never before taken notice of by those that had made the greatest inquiry after them Then he not only admires this Book should make Man know himself better than he doth himself but also that 't is that alone in all the World that has to purpose Treated of the Soveraign Being and that it makes him conceive it to be as far above what he thought him to
be as all that ever he see till then is really inferiour to him and indeed if there were nothing else but that 't is the only thing obliges Men to know there 's but one only God and has taught to love him and to do all for his Glory it is the only Book deserves to be heeded and rely'd upon For having nothing but what we receive from God neither Motion Life nor Being we ought to do nothing but what should tend to him and all our Actions are Good or Evil but as they lead unto or depart from this End. I speak not of those that are only of the Body and wherein our Will is not concern'd those cannot properly be said to be ours and are only a part of the Motions of this great Body of the Universe which Glorifie God in their own Way But as for those we do because we will do them there are not any that we must not give an account of and therefore should mark that we ought to Will only what he Wills That all Created Beings those that think and those that think not should be in a continual Submission to the Will of their Maker who could have no other design in Creating them But as 't would not be to much purpose to fulfil this Will if one did it not out of pure Love and that 't were done but as Beasts do it God has been pleas'd to put into Man a Superiour Power capable to Elect and Love and that tending always to the part it loves best it might draw after it all the rest and may make to him a voluntary Sacrifice of the whole Man. This in few Words is the Idea of a good Religion or there is no such thing or it ought herein to consist for Admiration Fear and Adoration it self separate from Love are no better than dull and dead things wherein the Heart is no way concern'd and cannot produce such a dependance as that ought to be which the Creature has upon its Creator Nevertheless what other Religion besides the Christian ever placed in this Love the very Essence of its Worship This very defect me thinks should make them all be lookt upon to be false I see nothing should hinder the Inventors of them to perceive that a Supernatural blindness that proceeds even from God kept secret from us that very Cause by which those false Religions are so clearly discern'd Neither would it be any great matter that this Book did clearly shew Man to himself if it did not also fully instruct him in the Order of the World and if it did not clearly unfold those difficult Questions which have so much puzzl'd the greatest Wits of the World. Wherefore for Instance is there seen such a strange difference betwixt Men who are all of one and the same Nature how comes it to pass that the Soul or Thought which is the most Innocent of all things should be so variable If they receive it from a Superior Being Wherefore do they teach that some have it Great and others Mean that some have it full of Light others full of Darkness Some have it Sincere and True and that in others 't is inclin'd to Vice and Injustice and that with so great difference and mixture of these Qualities one with the other and also of those which are opposite to them that there are not two Men in the World that resemble one another nor any one Man that differs not from himself every Moment If the Soul be transmitted from Parents to their Children as most Philosophers taught from whence could this diversity proceed How comes it to pass that a Wise Father gets a Foolish Son How can a Wicked Child proceed from a Vertuous Father How can the Children of the same Father be born with such different Inclinations Don't all these Difficulties sease by the Corruption of the Nature of Man whom this Book teaches to be fallen from his first State And are they not necessary Consequences of the subjection of the Soul to the Body which cannot be lookt upon but as a Punishment and that makes it depend on the Place of ones Birth of Complexion Education Custom and several other things of this kind which have little relation to it Whence proceeds also the Confusion which is seen in the World which made some Philosophers doubt of a Providence and which plainly shews there is one to those who look on it with other Eyes than those of Faith as being a greater Chaos than that the Pagans fansy'd their Gods had drawn it from Wherefore is it the Wicked do almost always Flourish And wherefore is it that the Righteous are always Miserable and Oppress'd Wherefore is there such a mixture of Rich and Poor of Sick and Healthy of Oppressed and Tyrants What did those do to be born Happy and to have all things to their Mind And how is it these have deserv'd to come into the World only to Suffer Wherefore is it God has permitted there should be so many Errors so many Opinions Manners Customs and different Religions All this is shewn by a very few Principles that are found in this Book and by these amongst others that this is not the place God is pleas'd to have the difference made betwixt the Bad and the Good which would be too visible if the one were always Happy and the others always Afflicted neither is this the place of Recompence that Day is to come in the mean while God will have things lie secret If he suffers Men to go on in their Courses if he lets them run after the Desire of their Heart and that he will discover himself but to a little number of Persons 't is his own good Pleasure for 't is such he will make worthy and capable of true Vertue Is it not herein also this Book is amiable and worthy of the highest esteem It is not only the sole Book that has fully reveal'd the Misery of Man but 't is also the only one that has discover'd to them the Notion of true Happiness and promis'd apparent Remedies of their Miseries If it humbles us in shewing our Condition yet more wretched than it seems to us it also Comforts us in teaching that 't is not quite past hope It may probably give us some hope but the thing is well worth experimenting and the good it promises does at least quicken our hope in that it don't appear wholly unlikely whereas one need only cast a transient glance on all that hitherto has been call'd true Happiness to see the Vanity and Falseness of it who also can but admire that those who wrote this Book have taken such different ways and that they have taken a Course so far from others in the Remedies they prescribe to Men. This is a sign they plainly see the Weakness and Vanity of all those which Philosophers with so much Confidence and little Success have given us and by consequence that the Writers of the Holy Scriptures understood
should imagine such a thing can be but because they desire that it was and that 't is not in the power of Man to change the Heart it were to no purpose to trouble them with Arguments which yet might easily be done We shall rest satisfi'd in warning them of their Duty and what care they must take of giving any likelihood of colour to such Conjectures Let them in the first place tell us by what good fortune it was Moses lighted on so happy and ancient Foundations for his Enterprise because in all likelihood he would never have said to this People That he was sent to them by the God of their Fathers if he had not some Tradition that they came from Abraham and Jacob and that God had appear'd to them And where was it he found this Tradition How came this Opinion so Universal That there should one day be born a great King of the Tribe of Judah that he should Reign and also the care of so strictly obliging them in keeping their Genealogies for to know him How could this Moses or any one else imprint so strongly in the Mind of all the Jews such a firm expectation of the Messias that for these Sixteen hunder'd Years that they have been dispers'd and that they see no Effect of these Promises yet nevertheless they wait for it and expect the accomplishing it with an unparallell'd Patience and Fidelity How was it that so long a Succession of Kings and Great Men How did David and Solomon those People so Wise and Learned come to be so fully of this Judgment and from thence left us those Writings which appear so lofty and Divine and which yet otherwise would be but Dreams and Delusions How comes it to pass that all that is esteem'd abstracted Wisdom and Knowledge in the whole World should be grounded on so Eminent an Imposture And how comes it to pass that this suppos'd Fabrick of Lyes and Chimeras never yet contradicted it self Let any body shew us by what chance this Law invented by a private Man should at the same time be the only Law pleasing to God the only Law contrary to Mans Nature and the only Law that has ever subsisted How came it about that it was made with so much Skill that it subsists and was abolished and that as if there had been an Understanding betwixt Moses and Jesus Christ the latter were to annul the Religion of the former and that yet they grounded all they said on what it contains and thence draw their chiefest Proofs so that the Law seems to be only a Figure of the Doctrine of Jesus Christ and that there need only be drawn a Curtain to find it How comes it to pass that since it is said The Clouds are scatter'd and the Husk which was nothing has left the inside and substance to be seen It happens that the Blessings promis'd to them which truly kept this Law seems to be wholly bestow'd on Christians which have imbrac'd this interiour part and who still continue as earnest as ever in their Profession By what Fate by what influence of the Stars does the Religion of this Man so unworthily Treated of the Jews which is prov'd so effectually to be nothing but their own How comes it to be so obstinately rejected by them to be received almost by all other Nations and spread over the face of the whole Universe And what should this invisible force mean that for these Sixteen hundered years keeping this People without a Leader without Arms Residence or Support that yet nevertheless they with so much exactness keep the Books that declare them Rebels and Enemies to God and that are undeniable Proofs for Christians whom they look on as their greatest Enemies Verily the Thoughts of going about to adjust so many Difficulties were enough to crack any Mans Brain that should attempt it and to spare the Pains of any one that should go about to try it they are freely warn'd that when they had accomplish'd the design of reconciling such an Abiss of Difficulties it were to do nothing at all and the Proofs of our Religion would not in the least be shaken For they must besides all this shew us that all these things was easie to be fore-shewn and that 't was very easie to Moses and the Prophets that follow'd these steps to foretel so long before-hand so many things both General and Particular the Coming of Jesus Christ the Conversion of the Gentiles the Destruction of the Jewish Nation and the State it is in and that also os marking the very Time and Circumstances of it It is here indeed all Suppositions fall short and that 't is to no purpose to torment ones self to make any Conjectures Men are not Prophets by Natural ways and as Nature is not subject to them to Work Miracles so neither is the Time to come known to them to make a History of it before-hand as may be seen in Daniel from Nebuchadnezzar's time that of the change of Monarchies that of Alexander's Successors and the time that was to the Birth of the Messias Neither is it by chance nor human Art that several Prophets and Esay in particular have spoke of Jesus Christ so clearly and describ'd so plainly so many Circumstances of his Birth Life and Death that they are no less his Historians than the very Evangelists themselves and that he should have this advantage above all Mankind that though his History was not writ till after his Death but by his Disciples only yet it was found done and spread abroad in the World several Ages before he appear'd that so there should not remain the least scruple of the Truth of it Who was it dictated to Moses what he said to the Jews when he was leaving them of what should befal them and of their Infidelities of the Captivity of Babylon and their return thence of the last Siege of Jerusalem wherein they should see themselves reduced to eat their Children and of their being scatter'd into all Nations when the time should be come and that they should Fall but that nevertheless God would still make them subsist least their Enemies should despise them and say They had ruin'd them To conclude that number of Men who succeeded one another for near Two thousand years to warn the Jewish Nation that the coming of him they expected was at hand that directly shews them the State the World shall then be in that foretels they shall not obey him and put him to Death and that for this Cause they shall fall into Miseries never to be repair'd Which tells them that the Gentiles to whom he was promis'd as well as to them should upon their refusal receive him Who is it said so precisely That from all parts of the World the People should come and submit themselves to his Law and in all this said nothing that was not punctually fulfill'd Where did they learn all this And how could they foresee it If what has
been hitherto said might occasion any Grief for the Death of Monsieur Pascall to his Friends who only knowing to what Degree he understood Prophecies how able he was to explain and shew their meaning and with what ease and facility he made them be understood at large are also best sensible of the publick loss of so great a Man. I very well know these scatter'd glimmering Lights which are to be seen in this Treatise of his Thoughts will give but an imperfect view of the Volume he would have made it may be but very few will believe me But those who know it are bound to give this Testimony to the Truth and to his Memory I can therefore boldly affirm that those who diligently hearkned to him in the occasion above mentioned were as it were Transported when they heard him speak of what he had gather'd from the Prophets and Prophecies He began by shewing the obscurity which seemed therein was so order'd on purpose that we have been warn'd of it and that 't is said in sundry places that they shall not be understood by the Wicked and that they shall be clear to those that are upright of Heart That the Scripture has two Senses that 't is made to enlighten some and to darken others That this is visible in it almost throughout and that 't is also express'd in it in plain Terms Also to speak truly It is the Foundation of this great Work of the Scripture and those who rightly comprehend it find no difficulty in any thing whatsoever On the contrary it is this very thing that causes it to shew the Superiour Spirit wherewith all those which have any part therein have been Inspired seeing that had they combin'd all together and that afterwards they had changed they could never have contriv'd any thing better that nothing but obscurity should appear to those that only sought therein to increase their own Ignorance and afford much Light to those who seek for and desire it Had God been pleased to have Created all Men in Glory and Happiness as he might have done then it had not been necessary but he was not pleas'd to do so It is our Duty to take whatever he is pleased to afford us and the rather because deserving nothing of him but his Anger it becomes not condemn'd Persons to complain of the Conditions of their Pardon But what renders us very guilty and admirably vindicates the Justice of God is That the Gross and Carnal Sense wherein the Jews remain'd is unintelligible in several places and has so little Coherence that one must already be blind to be blinded by it and that on the contrary every part of the true Sense has such a reference and inseparable relation to each other that one must also be blind not to see it But besides this obscurity such as 't is in some places can't hinder but with a Moderate Spirit and a little Sincerity one may receive as much Light as is needful Let us fansy this Man that Monsieur Pascall would lead as 't were by the hand and doubtless we shall perceive that his Clouds dissipated as he proceeded in the study of the Old Testament and well considering all he saw and judging of what at first seemed difficult by what he found afterwards more clear all this great Mystery presently unfolds it self and appears open and clear to him He perceives in the first place that when there is mention of the fall of Adam it is said to the Serpent that the Seed of the Woman shall bruise his Head and he therein finds the first Draughts and a Promise of a Redeemer expected by the Jews he after observes that this same thing which was so obscurely promis'd and scarce taken notice of goes on manifesting it self so far till at length it gets the Victory and becomes the Center whereto all does tend for soon after he finds this same promise more clearly and fully made to Abraham and reiterated again to Jacob with assurance that all Nations of the World shall be bless'd in their Posterity of whom this Redeemer should be born Moreover he finds the whole Jewish Nation fully perswaded of this Hope and expecting this great King from the Tribe of Judah who was to load them with Riches and make them Conquerors over all their Enemies David comes after and writes the admirable Work of his Psalms pointing at this Messias and incessantly hoped and waited for his appearing Then come the Prophets who unanimously declare That God is going to accomplish what he had promis'd That his People are shortly to be freed from their Sins and that those which lay in Darkness should see Light. It also appears clearly to him That Heaven and Earth was to assist to the production of this Extraordinary Person One of the Prophets cry'd Let the Dew descend from Heaven and let the Righteous fall as the Rain from the Clouds Let the Earth open and let her conceive and bring forth the Saviour Thereupon they admire the Names given this Man Eternal King Prince of Peace Father Everlasting God He observes also that the Conquest of Cyrus of Alexander of the Romans and all the other great things done in the World serv'd only to put the Universe in the State 't was said it should be in at his coming To conclude he sees the Jews scatter'd over the Face of the Earth carrying with them the Books which contain the Promises made to Mankind as 't were to put into their Hands so many assurances of the share they had therein What then could he infer from all this but that this promis'd Redeemer cannot be the Conqueror expected by the Jews to have been only for them That the Riches he was to bestow and the Enemies he was to destroy could not be Temporal Riches and Enemies and that only a meer winner of Battels being but an unfit Object for such great Preparations it could be no other but God only could perform it But when after an Expectation of Four thousend Years Heaven opned to send Jesus Christ upon Earth and that he came and said to Men It is for me all this has been done and 't is I that you expect That he was worthy of all this preparation and had it been less it had been too little for him He was born it 's true in Obscurity he liv'd in Poverty he di'd in Shame but if thereby he veil'd his Divinity which he sufficiently manifested otherwise and that the blindness of the Jews and of so many others must needs be very great not to discern him and to believe there was no other greatness in the sight of God besides that of Holiness Had there been no Prophecies for Jesus Christ and that he had wrought no Miracles yet there was something so Divine in his Doctrine and in his Life that one must needs be charm'd with it and as there is neither true Vertue nor Sincerity of Heart without the love of Christ so there is
nothing wherein it is harder to impose upon them and wherein there is less occasion of Dispute So that when it is demonstrated to them that Christian Religion is inseparably join'd to Deeds the truth of which cannot justly be contested they must and ought submit to what it teacheth or that they abandon all Sincerity and right Reason If Moses for Instance was and that he wrote the Book that is attributed to him then the Jewish Religion is true If the Jewish Religion be True Jesus Christ is the Messias and if Jesus Christ be the Messias all must be believed that he said The Trinity the Incarnation Resurrection Ascension and all the Rest It is by this Divine chain of Truths God conducts Men to the true Faith and that they might shew there is nothing more reasonable than the submission they give to the most incomprehensible Mysteries very far from censuring them of Weakness and Imprudence And as this great Body of Christian Religion is compos'd of a great many different Parts which all tend to the same End and that it has subsisted Six thousand years it cannot but be by a Chain of infinite Truths that every Age has added a new Accumulation of Proofs and that at what Part soever one begins at what Point soever one apply themselves one still finds such a great abundance of Light that 't is impossible not to be convinc'd But one is so much the more obliged to apply themselves exactly to the seeking these Proofs God ordering it so that they should not consist in common Principles and so plain that they should presently be discover'd and that they should be alike seen of all Men. It is rather a heap of Circumstances that every body does not put together or don 't consider after the same manner which yet nevertheless are plain to the most ordinary Capacity when they ever so little open their Eyes and when they are all together produce a certainty if not greater at least more intimate and natural than that we have by speculative and abstracted Demonstrations because the manner of it is more proportion'd to the Mind of Man and that there 's no body but finds the Principles in themselves It is in this design that to give an Essay of the way that one should consider these Deeds which by their certainty do necessarily perswade that of our Religion we will make choice of the particular History of Moses and the Truth of his Books which serve as the Foundation of the Jewish Religion as this doth of the Christian according to St. Paul. I do not think my self bound presently to prove that if there was effectively a Man who lookt on himself to be sent on Gods part and that not desiring he should be believed on his bare Word or by Actions which are known to be but little above those of the power of Man has given for greater Evidence that wonderful Succession of Prodigies which is to be seen in the Pentateuch who was seen to have dispos'd of Life and Death to have Commanded the Elements and made the whole Frame of Nature stoop to his Orders I make no question I say but all the World will confess but this Man does best desérve to be believ'd of what he has writ concerning God in whose Name it was he wrought all these Wonders and that the Religion he Establish'd should be accounted as True and Divine The most obstinate Spirits will as 't were be at a loss under the weight of these Wonders and find no other means to satisfie the Inclination they have to Unbelief but to seek vain Reasons to question the Truth of these Miracles and of the Book which contains them But if they have any remains of Honesty and Sincerity left in them they cannot possibly proceed very far in these Doubtings and they will find them so dissipated by the abundance of Proofs which attend this History that they must be forc'd either to confess it to be true or be reduc'd to the dulness of those who to avoid believing what Religion Commands do rather chuse never to think at all of it For by what Suppositions do they think to shake the certainty of what is writ in these Books and put their Mind in a State of thinking that it all amounts to nothing Let them give all the scope they can to their Imagination and let it feed them with all the Chimera's it can they will never find any thing that has the least shadow of likelihood and which a Judgment never so little solid would not be asham'd to propose Will they say Moses never was and that all that is said of him is only a Fable invented at pleasure But let them consider that it is not Jews and Christians only that have been heard speak of this Moses seeing it is also known that Prophane Historians make mention of him and if that were not so let them also look on all the Histories in the World but as Fables seeing there is not one of them can be Credited if it were permitted to doubt that there was a Man called Moses who brought the Jews out of Aegypt after a long Captivity For all the Reasons whereby Men judge the truth of other Histories do equally appear in that of Moses For Instance we do not doubt but that there was an Alexander and a Cyrus because several Authors have writ of it and that no body ever thought of making any question of it neither has ever any body seriously question'd if there was a Moses It was constantly own'd and believ'd amongst a very Numerous People and by all those that knew them and that had any dealing with them without ever having been deny'd by any body But there is moreover this difference that Moses has particular Proofs and such as are not to be found in others for never was a Book preserv'd with so much Care and Affection as that which contains his History and nevertheless Men had never greater and more powerful Reasons to destroy the Truth of any Book if they could have found any colour for doing it than the Jews had in regard of this seeing that at once they might have freed themselves from a Law that was the most troublesom the most painful terrible and Injurious that could be to be observ'd so that one can see no Motive that should incline them to bear it but the firm perswasion of the Truth of it Incredulity not being able to subsist in this Chimera it must of necessity pass to some other and that for Example one must say That it is true there was a Man call'd Moses and that he was Chief of a great People he brought out of Aegypt but that he was a great Impostor which deceiv'd that People by false Miracles and forged all the Prodigies he Relates in his Book to subject them to the Law which he gave them and by that Law to himself in making them look upon it as come from Heaven and making
things of the weightiest Consequence and that have been ever in force Besides it would be pleasant to see a Combination carry'd on betwixt Five or Six hundred thousand Men and that not one of them nor of their Posterity ever discover'd it For there was not one of those Miracles but that every one of all that People being all together in one Camp might have discover'd the fraud or that they might have avow'd as having seen them with their Eyes or being done in their Days or in the time of their Fathers What a difficult thing then would it have been to Moses to have gained so many People and especially a People so hard to govern And how could it be but there would have been found some heady Person or some Man of good Sense that would have opposed such a design Whoever would have attempted it must have but little experience of Men to believe but that there would soon have been as many Sectaries as Moses or at least but that he would have been desirous to have inform'd Posterity of this Deceit and might easily enough have done it Besides What could there have been fitter to have render'd the Jews ridiculous to all the World instead of admiring them and how blind must they have been not to see it For Instance What would the Aegyptians have said of all the Plagues Moses said he smote them with of the slaying their First born of the drowning Pharoah's Army in the Red-Sea And by what Complacency could all those other Nations whom he boasted to have overcome by such extraordinary ways could they have sufferr'd to pass for currant so many Fables unless they had been also of the Combination and as truly Enemies of the Glory which is ridiculously imagin'd the others sought after I grant Men may invent Fables yet they do not carry them thus far when they desire they should be believ'd and besides they take great heed to place their beginning a great way off and to hide it in the obscurity of past Ages But as it is not Mens scope to appear Ridiculous and Deceivers they never invent things that may be gainsaid by Witnesses that are living and by whole Nations that are concern'd in them For Example It would have been pleasant for the Moors when they return'd into Africa being expell'd by the Spaniards to have gone about to have made the World believ'd that they were brought over by Miracles like that of Moses and that after the Mediterranian Sea had divided it self to let them pass through it they saw it join together again and Drown an Army of I cannot tell how many thousand Men that pursu'd them yet the design would have been no less Extravagant in respect of the Jews for we must not look on those times though so remote and ignorant yet not to be so dark as they are represented Men heard and knew what past amongst each other they had the same Intrest and Passions we have they saw what they saw and knew what was needful to be known even as we do These two Hypothesies must then of necessity be laid aside neither was Moses an Impostor that deceiv'd the Jews nor were the Jews of intelligence with him There remains only to say Moses was not Author of the Book that goes under his Name or at least that it is but since his time that all the Miracles have been added to it that it contains this is the most Infidelity can Inspire but Reason will not suffer a Man of the least Sense to stop here If there were nothing else to assure one that this Book is truly of Moses and that we have it just as he wrote it but only because it goes in his Name that this Book testifies that it has ever been attributed to him and that till this time none ever thought of saying the contrary this were sufficient cause not in Reason to doubt of it because we have no other assurance that the Books of past Ages are of Authors that they are attributed unto And let it not be alledg'd that there are Books which having for some time passed under the Name of certain Authors have at last been found to be but forgery for not to enter into this Query it is impossible this should happen to a Book of the greatest Importance to which the Authors Name is of great Moment and whereof in all Ages there has been so much care used to Examine the Original and Truth because Truth is of that Nature that all things agree therein and concur in Establishing it and that it is impossible that no Industry nor Cunning can find any thing that can contradict it on the contrary Untruth and Fraud at last discovers it self if one makes it ones indeavour to inquire into it because it cannot chuse but that a great many things will appear contrary to it and that notwithstanding all the Foresight and Skill those Deceivers have it is impossible let the Mind of Man be never so wary that one should perceive all Inconveniencies may occur and if one could foresee them how to frame ones self to adjust them For to conclude When to this purpose there might be certain Effects within the power of Men it is also as sure there are also a great many things without their reach they must be able to command the Time present and that to come alter the Course of all things and in a Word be Masters of Nature and of the Mind and Will of Men. So that it is evident we have incomparably more Proofs in behalf of the Books of Moses than there is for others These were deposited in the hands of some few Persons it was but few that were concern'd about them those that were seldom thought of them and when they did it was of no great importance But the Book we speak of is of quite another kind It was always in the Hands of a great People it was the continual Object of their Care and as it was the Ground of their Religion and of a Religion that hated Lying and Deceit how was it possible they would have sufferr'd to be impos'd upon in regard of the Name of the Author and that it should be alter'd by so many Fables Or how could all this be done and that they should never perceive it And who could have been so bold as to have attempted all this Let this continu'd Course of Miracles wrought in Aegypt and in the Wilderness be seriously consider'd and let one seriously judge if all those are things that can be foisted into a Book and made be accounted to pass for the Original This is the utmost could be done for some inconsiderable Book that was to be seen but by a few Persons and for some private Miracle that may be said was done but in presence of a few Witnesses And it is seen these things do not spread far nor do not continue any long time they scarce any sooner appear but they are opposed so far
as that they subsist no longer unless it be amongst some ignorant People who only taking things on the first Credit of them never trouble themselves in throughly searching into the Truth of Matters But there is nothing clear in the World if it be not that no such thing can happen for the Book we now speak of and describe I could as well say that it would be no hard matter now to Insert in the New Testament as long and considerable a History as that and how idle soever this Supposition seems I cannot tell but that 't was harder to do it in the Books of Moses seeing the Jews respected it as much every jot as we do our New Testament and that there was not one amongst them that had not a very particular Intrest to know what was contain'd in it were it only to preserve themselves from the Sentence of Death which without Remission they were to suffer if they omitted certain Rites they were to perform But what does absolutely prove the Vanity of this Supposition is that there is as it were two Histories of Moses one that was written in the Book that bears his Name the other which is as it were engrav'd in the Ceremonies and Laws observ'd by the Jews the Practice whereof is a pregnant Proof of the Book that enjoin'd them and also of what it contain'd of greatest importance For the greatest part of the most Wonderful Miracles were shewn by the Ceremonies and other things that served in the Worship of the Jewish Religion The Pot of Manna kept in the Ark was a Monument of Gods Miraculous feeding that People in the Wilderness Aaron's Rod that blossom'd was a Sign of the manner how God confirm'd the Priesthood to him and the Two Tables shew'd what 's related in Exodus touching the Establishing the Law. The Sacrifice of the Pascal Lamb the Ceremony of the Azymes and the appointing the Tribe of Levi for the Service of the Temple shew'd the Passage of the Angel the Death of the First born of the Aegyptians and the deliverance of the Children of Israel The Plates of Gold nail'd to the Altar was a Memorial of the Death of those unadvis'd Levites that disputed the Priest-hood with Aaron To conclude The Ark the Tabernacle the sundry Orders of Priests and Levites all the Ceremonies of Sacrifices and Washings all the Laws the appointing the Countries beyond Jordan to the Tribes of Reuben Gad and the half Tribe of Manasses The Cities of Refuge for Man slaiers I say all these things which it were no less absurd to deny than it were to say there were never any Jews have a necessary reference and dependance on the Books of Moses and do invincibly prove that they could not be writ since his Time. For to this purpose it must be either that all we have said has not also been settled but since Moses's time and after publishing the Books attributed to him or that being Established by Moses his Word and without any Book some should add these Books to the Ceremonies and Laws that were in use and added these Miracles the more to enjoin this People to the observation of this Law. But all this is so unlikely that there was never any Person known that durst seriously maintain any such thing How can it be said for Example that the Pentateuch was made and published a long time after Moses his Death and that it was the Cause of Establishing the Law and Worship of the Jewish Religion contain'd in it It may as well be said the Ark and the Tabernacle which are the Foundations of this Religion were not made neither but a long while after Moses and after the publishing of this Book Now this cannot possible be for all the Jews were perswaded their Ark and Tabernacle were made by Moses as this Book does mention and it cannot be conceiv'd by what Fancy they could be of this Opinion if they themselves had made them after they had seen and receiv'd this Book which had not been known till a long time after Moses his Death doubtless this would have been one of the Pleasantest things in the World and the most unparallel'd either that this Book being made of a sudden and in a readiness with this great number of Laws and Ceremonies as being already in use they afterwards came to be Establish'd or that being made by little and little and just as all those things were settled it had always as is said at the Palace Retroactive Effect to make each of these Establishments be attributed to Moses How also could this People who beginning to receive this Law had they at least known it had been untrue that it had been practis'd since Moses and that it had a constant Succession of Priests since Aaron could they have Universally perswaded themselves that what this Book Commanded had been always practis'd and that the Priests it Established had received their Ministry from Aaron by an uninterrupted Succession And how also upon this same Foundation could all the other Tribes and Families have sufferr'd the Tribe of Levi and the Sons of Aaron to usurp to themselves the Prerogatives belonging to the Priest-hood and to the Office of the High-Priest There is no less absurdity in the other Supposition which is That the Law being given by Moses his bare Word was preserv'd by the Jews for some time only by meer Tradition and that afterwards those that wrote it added thereunto all these Miracles for besides that it were already a kind of Miracle and hard to believe that this People should receive so severe and troublesom a Law as that was from a Man that had done nothing extraordinary How could it be that Moses who doubtless had the use of writing should have omitted so Essential a thing and should not leave in Writing a Law that contain'd so many Rights and Ceremonies and so many Directions that it was necessary to have it always in readiness not to fail in some part or other of it Also we are inform'd by this Book it self that Moses fail'd not herein Moses it is said wrote this Law and gave it to the Priests the Sons of Levy and command it should be Read every seventh year at the Feast of Tabernacles And it is there said in several places That God commanded Moses to Write what he commanded him on the Mountain If the Jews then had receiv'd this Law from him only by Word how then could they receive a Book that contain'd so gross and manifest a Lye and that had in it an Express Command from God wherein their Legislator had fail'd This same Command of Reading the Law every Seventh year at the Feast of Tabernacles as being given by Moses does shew also that it could not be chang'd nor alter'd for it was impossible but those alterations would have been discover'd and being so that they should be sufferr'd by a People so wedded to this Law and whose Love for it was grounded on the