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death_n	word_n	world_n	wrought_v	164	3	7.7001	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A56539	Monsieur Pascall's thoughts, meditations, and prayers, touching matters moral and divine as they were found in his papers after his death : together with a discourse upon Monsieur Pascall's, Thoughts ... as also another discourse on the proofs of the truth of the books of Moses : and a treatise, wherein is made appear that there are demonstrations of a different nature but as certain as those of geometry, and that such may be given of the Christian religion / done into English by Jos. Walker.; Pensées. English	Pascal, Blaise, 1623-1662.; Walker, Joseph.; Perier, Madame (Gilberte), 1620-1685. Vie de M. Pascal. English.; Filleau de la Chaise, Jean, 1631-1688. Discours sur les Pensées de M. Pascal. English.	1688 (1688)	Wing P645; ESTC R23135	228,739	434

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

they saw this Confession of Faith they discover'd the defect of it which obliged them to go to Gaillion to speak with the Archbishop of Roüen who having examin'd Matters found the business of such importance that he sent a Commission to his Council and gave express order to Monsieur Du Bellay to make this Man to disown all the Points that he was accused of and not to hearken to any thing he should say till 't was communicated to those that had informed against him things were transacted accordingly and he appeared in the Archbishop's Court and retracted all his former Opinions and it might be believed 't was sincerely for he never shew'd any grudge against those that prosecuted him which shews that 't is like he was deceived himself by the false conclusions he drew from his false Principles and he was well assured that they had no Intent of hurting him nor other aim but to undeceive him by himself and hinder him from seducing young Scholars that had not been capable of distinguishing Truth from Error in those subtil questions So this Affair ended without Noise and my Brother continuing more and more the means to please God this Love of a Christian Life increased so much from the 24th year of his Age that it was conspicuous throughout the whole Family My Father himself not being ashamed to submit to his Sons instructions and from thenceforward imbraced a more exact manner of Life by the continual Exercise of Vertue until his Death which was very exemplary and as became a good Christian My Sister also who was endued with extraordinary Gifts of the Mind and that from her Infancy had acquired a Reputation that but very few attain unto was so wrought on by my Brothers Discourses that she resolved to part with all Worldly advantages she so much loved to consecrate her self wholly to Gods Service which she performed accordingly entring into a Nunnery where she so well improv'd the Talents God bestow'd on her that she was esteemed capable of the most difficult Imployments which she discharged with all Fidelity and departed this Life the 4th of October 1661. Aged 36. Years In the mean while my Brother whom God made the Instrument of all this good was agitated by continual Sicknesses which still increas'd upon him But now knowing no other Science but that of Holyness he found a great deal of difference betwixt this and those that had formerly taken up his Thoughts for whereas his sicknesses put a stop to the progress of the others this on the contrary made him the better in the same indispositions by the admirable Patience with which he bore all things and to shew it I will only relate one instance Amongst other inconveniencies he had that that he could not swallow any liquid thing unless 't were warm and not then neither but drop by drop and having besides a violent Head-ach and an excessive heat in the Bowels and other Distempers the Physicians order'd he should be purged every other day for three Months together so that he must take all this Physick warmed and drop by drop which was no small torture and grieved them that were about him yet he never seem'd to repine at it The continuance of this means with other helps procur'd him some ease but did not fully recover him so that the Physicians were of Opinion that perfectly to recover his health it was convenient he should lay apart all manner of Study and that he should seek occasions of recreating himself as much as he could My Brother was very loath to follow this advice because he thought there might be danger in it but at last he comply'd with it thinking he was bound to do what he could for the recovery of his health and he judged innocent Recreations could do him no harm and so he set out into the World and though by God's Mercy he ever shun'd all Vice nevertheless God having appointed him to a higher Degree of perfection he would not suffer him to remain in that course of Life and he made my Sister the Instrument for this purpose as he had formerly used my Brother as a means to call my Sister from the Pleasures she lived in in the World. She was at this time a Nun and lived so exemplary a Life that she was much esteemed by the whole House being in this Condition she was concern'd to see him to whom under God she was bound for the happiness she enjoy'd not to enjoy the like Graces and my Brother often visiting her she often spake to him and at length did it so effectually and obligingly that she perswaded him to what he had before perswaded her wholly to forsake the World so that he resolved with himself to forsake all Worldly Pleasures and Enjoyments and to omit all Superfluities of Life even to the indangering his Health thinking his Salvation was to be preferr'd before all things He was then about 30. years of Age and always sickly and 't was about that time he took up the course of Life that he continu'd till his Death The better to accomplish his Design and to break off all his former Customs he remov'd his Lodging and went to reside some time in the Country from whence being return'd he so plainly shew'd that he would quit the World that at last the World left him and be setled the manner of his living in this retirement upon those chief Maxims of denying himself all Pleasures and Superfluities and 't was in the Exercise thereof that he spent all the rest of his Days The better to attain his desire from thenceforwards he deny'd himself the Attendance of his Servants as much as he could possible he made his Bed himself he went to take his Dinner at the Kitchin and carry'd it to his Chamber and so return'd with it back again To conclude he made no use of his Servants but to dress his Meat to go of Errands and such other things as he could not well do himself he spent his whole time in Praying and Reading the Holy Scriptures and therein took unspeakable Pleasure he said the Holy Scripture was not a knowledge of the Brain but a knowledge of the Heart that was not to be attained but by those that were sincere and that it was obscurity to all others It was with this Frame of Mind that he read it disclaiming all the perfection of his own Wit and made so great progress therein that he had it all by heart so that no body could impose on him therein for when any would say 't is so or so he would answer positively That is of the Scripture or not and would presently turn to the place He also read all the Commentaries with great exactness for the respect to the Religion wherein he had been Educated from his Youth was now changed into an ardent Love for all the Truths of Faith whether it be for those that regard humility of Mind or those that regard our

of all Good Things and of all the Pleasures of the Senses free from those Passions that trouble us all our Life without Ambition Covetousness and in a continual expectation of Death Is it not so Christians should live and is it not a great Happiness to be found in the Condition one ought to be in and to have nothing else to do but to submit ones self humbly and quietly to the Will of God Therefore I desire nothing else of God but that he would enable me to do so And in this manner it was he bore all his sickness He very much desired to receive the Communion but his Physicians would not agree to it saying He could not take it fasting unless 't were in the night which he thought not fit to do without necessity and to receive it as a Viaticum there ought to be danger of Death which not appearing in him they could not advise him to it This refusal troubled him but he was forc'd to submit in the mean time his Cholick continu'd he was order'd to drink Waters which indeed gave him some ease but the 6th day of his drinking them which was the 14th of August he complain'd of a great Giddiness and Head-ach and though the Physicians did not think that strange and that they assur'd him 't was but the Vapors of the Waters he neglected not his Confession and earnestly desir'd that he might receive the Sacrament and that in Gods name they would find some expedient for the inconveniences they hitherto urged and he pressed it so much that one there present taxed him of being too hasty and that he should submit to the Judgment of his Friends that he was something better and almost free of his Cholick and that having only some Vapours of the Waters it was not needful the Sacrament should be brought him that 't was better to defer a while and receive the Communion at Church he reply'd they did not feel his Pain and they would be all deceiv'd my Head-ach has something extraordinary in it however seeing so many opposed his desire he was silent but said seeing they would not grant him that favour he desir'd to supply it by some good Work and seeing he could not communicate in the Head he desir'd to do it in the Members and to that end desir'd to have brought to him into the House some Poor sick body to whom the same Services might be rendered as were to himself that care should be taken and no difference made betwixt them that he might have the comfort to know that there 's a Poor body as well lookt to as he himself being troubled to see that he enjoy'd so many things for when he consider'd that at the same time he enjoy'd such abundance there were many poor Folks sicker than he that wanted necessaries it was such a trouble to him as he could not suffer therefore I desire you would speak to the Curate about this business to get some Poor Body as soon as may be I presently sent away to the Curate who return'd Answer that there was none yet in a Condition fit to be remov'd but that as soon as my Brother was a little recover'd he would give him some occasion of Exercising his Charity in taking the charge of some poor old Man to keep him as long as he liv'd for the Curate then made no question of his Recovery Finding that he could not have a Poor Body in his House with him he begg'd of me the favour that I would let him be carry'd to the incurables for he had a great desire to die amongst the Poor I told him the Phiysicians did not think convenient he should be remov'd in the Condition he was in whereat he was much troubled He made me promise h●m if he had any ease that I should oblige him herein In the mean while the great Pain of his Head increasing he bore it as he did all his other sickness without any complaining and once in the height of his Pain the 7th of August he desir'd he might have a Consultation of Physicians but presently he bethought himself and told me he fear'd there might be too much of inquisitiveness in so doing nevertheless I got it done and the Physicians order'd he should drink Whey telling him always they did not apprehend any danger and that 't was nothing but a Megrim with the Vapor of the Waters however notwithstanding what they said he never believ'd them and desired me that he might have some Church-Man to pass the Night with him and I found him so Ill that I privately gave order Candles and all things should be laid in readiness that he should receive the Sacrament next Morning This preparation was not in vain but were made use of sooner than we expected for about Midnight he had such a violent Convulsion Fit that when it was over we thought he was dead and with all our other Sorrows we had this that we fear'd he was departed without receiving the Sacrament having so many times and so earnestly desir'd it but God being pleas'd to satisfie so holy and just a Desire did as 't were miraculously suspend this Convulsion and recover'd him to his perfect Senses as well as in time of health so that Mr. Curate entring into his Chamber with the Sacrament cry'd out to him see hear what you have so much desir'd These words fully awakened him and as the Curate drew near to give him the Sacrament he rais'd himself and sate up to receive it with the greatest respect the Curate according to the usual manner asking him several Questions on the chief Mysteries of Faith he answered distinctly Yes Sir I believe so with all my heart after which he receiv'd the Holy Viaticum and extream Unction with so much humility and tenderness that he shed many Tears he answered to every thing thanked the Curate and when he blessed him with the holy Chalice he said Let God never forsake me which were his last words For having made some short Prayer his Convulsions return'd and never left him till he was depriv'd of his Senses and so continu'd till his Death which was 24. Hours after the 19th of August 1662. at One a Clock in the Morning Aged 39. Years Two Months Nobilissimi Scutarii Blasii Pascalis Tumulus D. O. M. Blasius Pascalis Scutarius Nobilis Hic jacet Pietas si non moritur aeternum vivet Vir Conjugii Nescius Religione Sanctus Virtute Clarus Doctrina Celebris Ingenio Acutus Sanguine Animo pariter Illustris Doctus non Doctor Aequitatis Amator Veritatis Defensor Virginum Ultor Christianae Moralis Corruptorum accerimus Hostis Hunc Rhetores amant Facundum Hunc Scriptores norunt Elegantem Hunc Mathematici stupent Profundum Hunc Philosophi quaerunt Sapientem Hunc Doctores laudant Theologum Hunc Pii venerantur Austerum Hunc Omnes mirantur omnibus ignotum Omnibus licit notum Quid plura viator quem perdidimus PASCALEM IS LUDOU erat

condemn others kill and notwithstanding all opposition you see Jesus Christ in a little time Reigning over them all and destroying the Jewish Worship in Jerusalem which was the Center of it and which he had first chose for his Church and the Worship of Idols at Rome which was the Center of Idol-Worship Ignorant and unlearned Men such as were the Apostles and first Christians resisted all the Powers of the Earth they bring under Kings the Wise and Learned and destroyed Idolatry which had taken such deep Root all this was effected by the Word that had foretold it 8. * The Jews in putting Christ to death for not believing him to be the Messias gave him the greatest mark that could be of being the Messias in persevering not to believe in him they became the strongest Evidence of him And in killing him and persisting to deny him they fulfil'd the Prophesies 9. * Who can but know Jesus Christ in so many particular Circumstances as were foretold For it is said That he shall have a Forerunner That he shall be born an Infant That he shall be born in Bethlem That he shall be of the Familiy of Judah and David That he shall be principally seen from Jerusalem That he shall make the Wise and Learned become blind and preach the Gospel to the Poor open the Eyes of the Blind heal the Sick and ●ring those into light that lay in darkness That ●e shall teach the perfect way and be a guide ●o the Gentiles That he was to be a Sacrifice for the Sins of the World. That he was to be the Foundation and pretious Corner Stone That he was to be a Stone of stumbling and Rock of offence That Jerusalem was to stumble at this Stone That the Builders would refuse it That God would make it the chief Corner Stone And that this Stone should grow into a great Mountain and fill all the Earth That he should be rejected despised betrayed sold beaten mocked afflicted an infinite manner of ways made drink Gall have his Hands and Feet pierced that he should be spit on his Rayment parted and put to a cruel Death That he should arise again the Third Day that he should ascend into Heaven and sit on the Right Hand of God. That Kings should rise up against him That being on the Right Hand of his Father he should be Victorious over his Enemies That the Kings of the Earth and all Nations should Adore him That the Jews should subsist a People That they should be Strangers without King without Sacrifice or Altar c. without Prophets expecting Salvation and finding none 10. * The Messias himself would Create a great People Chosen Elect Holy would conduct feed and bring it into the place of Rest and Holiness would make it Holy to God would make it the Temple of God would reconcile i● to God save it from the wrath of God would deliver it from the slavery of Sin which so visibly reigneth in Man give Laws to this People write these Laws in their Hearts offer himself to God for them Sacrifice himself for them would be an offering without spot and himself the Priest he was to offer his own self and offer his Body and Blood and nevertheless offer but Bread and Wine to God. Jesus Christ doth all this 11. * He is foretold to come a Saviour that should break the Serpents Head that should free his People from their Sins ex omnibus iniquita●●bus that he was to have a New Testament which was to be Eternal that he was to have another Priesthood after the Order of Melchise deck that this should be Eternal That Christ should be Glorious Powerful Strong and ye● withal so mean that he should not be known that he should not be taken for what he was that he should be rejected that he should be put to Death that his People which had rejected him should not be his People that those who Worshipp'd Idols should believe in him and should come unto him that he should forsake Sion and Reign in the Center of Idolatry that nevertheless the Jews should subsist still that he should come of the Tribe of Juda when there was no more Kings 12. * Ever since the beginning of the World the expectation or Adoration of the Messias has continued without interruption that he was promis'd to Adam presently after his Fall that there has since many Men been found that have said God had revealed to them that a Redeemer should be born that should save his People That afterwards Abraham came and said ●hat it was reveal'd to him that he should be born of him by a Son that he should have that Jacob declared that of his twelve Sons it was of Judah that he should be born That Moses and the Prophets came afterwards declaring the time and manner of his coming that they said the Law they had was only till the Messias came that till then it should subsist but that Law which succeeded it should continue for ever that so their Law or that of the Messias whereof it was a Figure should remain for ever in the World that it had ever been and that in the end Jesus Christ came in all the Circumstances that were foretold If all this was so plainly Prophesi'd to the Jews might some say wherefore did they not believe Or why were they not utterly destroy'd for denying so clear a thing I answer Both the one and the other was Prophesi'd that they should not believe so plain and evident a thing and that they should not be quite destroy'd and nothing can be more Glorious for the Messias for 't was not sufficient there should be Prophets it was requisite their Prophesies should be preserv'd without suspition Now c. 13. * The Prophets did prophesie of particular things and of those of the Messias to the end that the Prophesies of the Messias should not be without Proofs and that the particular Prophesies should not be without fruit 14. * Non habemus Regem nisi Caesarem said the Jews Then Jesus Christ was the Messias seeing they had no other King but a Stranger and that they would have no other 15. * The Seventy Weeks of Daniel are equivocal for the time of their commencement by reason of the Terms of the Prophesie and for the time of the end by reason of the diversity of Chronologers But all this difference extends only to two hundred years 16. * The Prophesies which represent Jesus Christ Poor do also represent him Lord of all the World. The Prophesies which foretel the time do only foretel him chief of the Gentiles and suffering and not in great Power and Judg of all And those which represent him Glorious and Judg of all Nations do not mark the time 17. * When there is mention made of the Messias as Great and Glorious it is visible that it is to Judg the World

and Obedience it on the contrary happens that those that continue in the Service of God are themselves infinitely beholden to him 35. * It is neither the austerities of Body nor the agitations of the Mind but the good motions of the Heart that support the Pains of Body and Mind for these two things are needful to sanctifie Pains and Pleasures Saint Paul said That those that will live Godly shall find many Tribulations this should comfort those that feel them seeing they are warn'd the way to Heaven that they seek is full of them they should rejoyce to find Marks that they are in the right way But those Pains are never without Pleasure and are never surmounted but with Pleasure for as those that forsake God to turn to the World do it only but because they find more sweetness in the Pleasures of the World then in those of Union with God and that this conquering charm leads them and making them repent of their first choice makes them the Devils Penitents as Tertullian speaks So in like manner one would never forsake the Pleasures of the World to imbrace the Cross of Jesus Christ if one did not find more pleasure in Disgrace Poverty Nakedness and the reproach of Men than in the pleasures of Sin. And so as Tertullian speaks elsewhere It must not be thought a Christians Life is a Life of Sadness One does not quit Pleasures but change them for others that are far greater Pray continually saith St. Paul Give Thanks always Rejoyce evermore It is the Joy of having found God is the ground of the sorrow of having offended him and of the whole change of our Life Him that found a Treasure in a Field is so glad according to Jesus Christ that he sells all he has to purchase it Worldlings have their sadness but they have not this joy which the World can neither give nor take away saith Christ himself The Blessed have this joy without any sorrow and Christians have this Joy mixed with sadness for having follow'd other Pleasures and the fear of losing it by the inticement of those other Pleasures that continually tempt us So that we ought continually to labour to preserve this fear which may moderate our joy and thereafter as one finds himself too much inclin'd towards the one to bend towards the other thereby to continue steddy Think of Good in the Days of Adversity and think of Affliction in the Days of Rejoycing saith the Scriptures until such time as the Promise of Jesus Christ be fulfill'd in accomplishing his Joy in us Let us not then be wholly dejected with sorrow and let us not think Piety consists only in bitterness without Consolation True Piety that is only to be found perfect in Heaven is so full of Comforts that it fills both the Entrance the Progress and the End. It is a Light so bright that it shines upon all that is near it if there be any sorrow mingled especially at first 't is from us it proceeds and not from Virtue for it is not the effect of Piety that begins to be in us but of the Impiety which remaineth in us Let us take away the Impiety and there will be Joy without any mixture Let us not then lay the blame on Devotion but on our selves and seek for Comfort only by correcting our selves 36. * The time past should not trouble us seeing it is only needful we should have true sorrow for our offences the time to come should less trouble us because that makes nothing at all to us and it may be we shall not live to see it the present is the only time that is ours and which we should employ in the fear of God it is therein our Thoughts should be chiefly imploy'd Nevertheless Men are so lazy that we scarce ever think of the time present but of that we shall live in hereafter So that we are ever about living in the time to come and never live in the present Our Saviour would not that our forecast should reach farther than the present Day it is the bounds that he has set us and appointed us to keep both for our Health and Rest 37. Sometimes Men rectisie themselves by seeing Evil more than by Good Example and 't is good to accustom ones self to profit by Evil seeing it is so common whereas that which is Good is rare 38. * In the 13th Chapter of St. Mark Jesus Christ made a great Discourse to his Disciples of his last coming and as all that befals the Church doth also happen to every particular Christian it is certain this Chapter ●oth as well foretel the State of every Christian in particular that in their Conversion dostroy the Old Man in themselves as the State of the whole Universe which shall be destroy'd to give place to a new Heaven and new Earth as the Scripture speaks the Prophesies therein contain'd of the destruction of the rejected Temple which represents the ruin of the Man of Sin which is in every one of us and of which it is said there shall not one Stone be left upon another shews there shall not be left any Passion of the Old Man. And those strange intestine Commotions do plainly foreshew the inward troubles those do feel that give themselves up to God than which there can be nothing more lively described c. 39. * The Holy Spirit invisibly rests in the Relicks of those who are Dead in the Grace of God even until he appears visibly again at the Resurrection and this is it that renders the Relicks of Saints so worthy of Veneration For God never abandons his Servants no not even in the Sepulchres where their Bodies though dead to the Eyes of Men are more alive in the sight of God because they are free from Sin whereas Sin abides in them still during this Life at least the root of it indeed the fruits of Sin are not always seen And this unhappy Root which always subsists during Life is the cause they deserve not so much Honour but rather on the contrary to be hated therefore it is that Death is necessary wholly to mortifie this wicked Root and it is what makes it desirable 40. * The Elect do not know their Virtues nor the Reprobates their Crimes Lord will the one and the other say when saw we thee an hunger'd c. 41. * Jesus Christ refus'd the Testimony of Devils and of those that were not called but not of God and of John Baptist 42. * In writing my Thought sometimes I forget but that makes me remember my weakness which I am apt to forget every Minute and this instructs me as much as the Thought I forgot for I only strive to know my own Nothingness 43. * Mountaign is guilty of great Failures his Works are full of unchast and filthy Words this ought not to be his Opinions of Murder and wilful Death are horrible he inspires a faint hope of Salvation without fear or

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