that patiently waited for the Messias promis'd from the Foundation of the World. Afterwards God sent Noah that see the wickedness of Men in the highest pitch and drowning all the rest of the World saved him by a Miracle which sufficiently shewed the Power he had to save the World and his Good-will in doing it and in causing that to be born of a Woman that he had promised This Miracle was sufficient to confirm the Faith of Men and the Memory of it being still fresh in their Minds God renewed his Promise to Abraham who was incompassed with Idolaters and fully instructed him in the Mystery of the Messias which was for to come In the Days of Isaac and Jacob Iniquity had spread it self over the Face of the Earth but these Holy Men lived by Faith and Jacob at his Death blessing his Children cryed out with a Holy Extasie that interrupted his Discourse O my God I have waited for thy Salvation Salutare tuum expectabo Domine The Egyptians were corrupted with Idolatry and Witchcraft the People of God were also corrupted by their Examples nevertheless Moses and others see him that the greatest part perceived not and ador'd him looking to those Eternal Recompenses that he prepared for them The Greeks and Romans afterwards adored false Divinities Poets invented several Religions Philosophers were divided into a Thousand different Sects in the mean while there was in Judea Select Men that foretold the coming of the Messias which was known only to them He appeared at last in the fulness of time since which though there has ensu'd so many Schisms and Heresies such overturnings of States and Kingdoms and great changes this Church that Adores him that was ever ador'd doth subsist without interruption And that which is admirable incomparable and wholly Divine is that this Religion which has always been oppos'd doth still subsist It hath many a time been almost quite extinguished and yet God has always been pleas'd to raise and recover it by the Wonders of his Goodness and Power and what is also very observable is that it has never submitted to yield or bow to the Will or Power of Tyrants 9. * Kingdoms would fall to decay if the Laws did not give way to necessity But Religion never us'd this course nor submitted to this Rule yet such accomodations must be or do Miracles It is not strange to escape danger by complyance yet this cannot properly be call'd preservation in the end they vanish quite away there is none that have subsisted 1500. years But that this Religion should alway subsist and continue unalterable is altogether Divine 10. * It would shew too much of obscurity should not Truth have some visible Marks It is a very admirable one that it hath been always presery'd in a Church and visible Assembly of Believers It would give too great a Lustre were all the Church of one Mind and Opinion but to know the right you need only seek that which has been always believed for 't is most certain the Truth has been always believed and that no false Error has been always believed 11. * The Messias has been always believed Adam's Tradition was fresh in Noah and Moses the Prophets foretold it and in fortelling other things the success whereof being from time to time accomplish'd in the sight of Men proved the truth of their Mission and by consequence the truth of their Prophesies touching the Messias They all confessed the Law they had was but till the Messias should appear that till then it should continue but that of the Messias should dure Eternally that so their Law or that of the Messias whereof it was a Promise should always abide in the Earth In effect it hath ever subsisted and Jesus Christ is come in all the Circumstances that were Prophesied of him He wrought Miracles and the Apostles also whereby the Gentiles were converted whereby the Prophesies being verified the Messias is unanswerably proved 12. * I see many different Religions and by consequence all of them false but one Every one would be believ'd by their own Authority and threaten those that allow them not for that Reason I do not approve of them Every one may say so every one may say I am a Prophet But I see the Christian Religion wherein I find Prophesies accomplish'd and a great number of Miracles so well asserted that it cannot in reason be doubted this is what I do not find in any other Religion whatsoever 13. * The only Religion contrary to Nature in the State 't is at present in that thwarteth our Sensual Pleasures and that at the first view appears contrary to our common Sense is that alone which has always been 14. * The whole Course and Current of things ought to tend chiefly to the promotion and establishment of Religion Men should have Opinions suitable to what it teacheth and to conclude it ought in such a manner to be the Object and Center all things should tend unto that whoever knew the ground of it should be able to give an account of the Nature of Man in particular and of the State of the whole World in general Upon this Account the Prophane take liberty to blaspheme the Christian Religion because they understand it not aright they think it consists only in Adoring one God consider'd as Great Powerful and Eternal this is properly Deism almost as different from Christian Religion as Atheism which is quite contrary to it And from hence they conclude this Religion is false for if it were true God would manifest himself to Men by such Signs that it were impossible but that every one must know him But let them conclude what they please against Deism they can conclude nothing against Christian Religion which teaches that since the Fall God doth not manifest himself to Man with that clearness that he may do were it consistent with his Will which is properly done in the Mystery of the Redeemer who uniting in himself the two Natures Divine and Human has deliver'd Man from the Corruption of Sin and reconciled him to God in his Divine Person True Religion teaches Men these two truths that there is a God they are capable of attaining unto and that there is such a Corruption in Nature as render them unworthy so great a Happiness it concerns Men equally to understand both these things and it as dangerous for Men to know God without being sensible of their own Misery as it is to see his Misery without knowing his recovery out of it by a Redeemer One of these Knowledges alone occasion'd the Pride of Philosophers who knew God but not their own Misery and the despair of Atheists who perceive their Misery without any hopes of a Saviour So that as it is equally necessary for Men to understand these two Points it is also just God in his Mercy should make them known to us Christian Religion doth it it is therein it doth consist Consult the Oeconomy of all
things in the World thereupon and you will find all things tend to the establishing these two Principles of Christian Religion 15. * If one does not know himself to be full of Pride Ambition Covetousness Weakness Misery and Injustice he must be very Blind And if in knowing it one desires not to be deliver'd from this State what can be thought of so unreasonable a Man Should not such a Religion then be highly esteem'd as does so well understand the Infirmities of Man and how earnest should our desires be for the truth of a Religion wherein such comfortable Remedies are to be found 16. * It is impossible to consider all the Proofs of Christian Religion altogether without being convinc'd of the force of it the which no Reasonable Man can contradict Consider its first Establishment that a Religion so opposite to Nature should settle it self so easily without any force or violence and yet so firmly that no Torments could hinder Martyrs from professing it and that all this should be effected not only without the assistance of any Prince but also in despight of all the Kings of the Earth that resisted it Consider the Holyness the Greatness and the Humility of a Christian Soul. The Antient Philosophers acquir'd a higher degree of Reputation than other Men by their orderly manner of Living and by certain Opinions that had some conformity to those of Christianity but they never looked upon that as Virtue which Christians call Humility they would even have thought it inconsistent with the other Virtues they made profession of It was only the Christian Religion that knew to unite things that till then appear'd so contrary and that first taught Men that Humility is so far from being inconsistent with other Virtues that without it all other Virtues are but Vices and Defects Consider the infinite Wonders of the Holy Scriptures which are Marvelous the greatness and sublimity more than Human of things which it contains the admirable simplicity of its Stile having nothing forc'd nor affected and that bears such a Character of Truth as cannot be disown'd nor gainsaid Consider the Person of Jesus Christ in particular whatever Opinion one has of him it cannot be deny'd but he was endeu'd with great and wonderful Wisdom of which he gave sufficient Testimonies in his Infancy before the Doctors of the Law nevertheless instead of improving those Tallents by Studdy and frequenting the Company of Learned Men he spent Thirty years of his Life in a Handy-craft Trade and a kind of retirement from the World and during the Three years of his Ministry he took into his Company and chose for his Apostles ordinary Persons without Learning or Reputation and incurr'd the hatred and displeasure of those that were esteem'd the Wise and Learned Men of the time a very strange conduct for one that intended to Establish a new Religion Take a serious view of the Apostles chosen by Jesus Christ those Persons who were ignorant and unlearn'd of a sudden were found sufficiently able to put to silence the Wisest Philosophers and Couragious enough to oppose the greatest Kings or Tyrants that resisted the Christian Religion which they taught and preached Then consider the wonderful Succession of Prophets which follow'd one another for near Two Thousand years and that in different manners all foretold even to the least Circumstances the Life and Death of Jesus Christ his Resurrection the Mission of the Apostles the Preaching of the Gospel the Conversion of the Gentiles and several other things touching the Establishment of the Christian Religion and the abolishing of the Law. Consider the admirable accomplishment of these Prophesies so fully and perfectly in the Person of Jesus Christ that it is impossible but to know him therein unless one will be wilfully ignorant Consider the State of the Jewish Nation before and after the coming of Jesus Christ their flourishing State before his coming and their miserable and wretched State after they had rejected him for to this day they continue without any Mark of Religion having neither Temples nor Sacrifices dispers'd over the face of the Earth and the scorn and refuse of all Nations Consider the Duration of Christian Religion having subsisted since the beginning of the World whether it be in the Saints under the Law who lived in expectation of Christ Jesus to come or in those that received and believed in him since his coming there being no other Religion that hath been perpetual which is the principle Mark of the true one To conclude let the Holiness of this Religion be consider'd its Doctrine giving an account of all things even of those that are most discordant in Man and all other particularities Supernatural and Divine that shine in all its parts After all which how can it any way be doubted that the Christian Religion is the only true Religion and whether there was ever any other that was like it §. III. The True Religion prov'd by the distances that are in Man and by Original Sin. 1. THe greatness and Miseries of Man are so visible that true Religion must needs teach us that there is in him some Principle of Greatness and at the same time some great depth of Misery True Religion must of necessity have a distinct knowledg of our Nature that is to say it must understand what it hath of Greatness and all it hath of Misery and the Cause both of the one and the other It must also know how to satisfie us of the strange distances that are therein to be seen if there is but one sole beginning of all things and but one end of all then True Religion must teach us to love and adore him only but finding our selves unable to Worship what we do not know and to love something besides our selves true Religion which instructs us in these Duties doth also inform us of our unability and also affords us necessary Remedies To make a Man happy Religion must teach him there is but one God that 't is our Duty to love him that 't is our perfect Happiness to be his and our greatest Misery to be separated from him this Religion should shew us that we are so full of ignorance that it hinders us from knowing and loving God so that our Duty obliging us to love God and our Corruptions hindering us shews that we are full of unholiness It must make us sensible of the a version we have to God and to our own welfare It must teach us the remedies and the means to obtain those Remedies Let a Man examin all the Religions in the World in this regard and see if there be any but the Christian Religion that answers these particulars Is it what the Philosophers taught who propos'd the good inherent in us to be the chiefest good Is this the chiefest good Have they discover'd the Remedy for our Sorrows to heal the presumption of Man is it to have equall'd him to God and those which have equall'd us with
â—e looked on as Persons void of Wisdom or Judgâ—ent and in effect desire such to give an account of their Opinions and the Reasons whereâ—ore they call Religion in question they express â—hemselves so weakly and frivolously that they â—o but the more confirm others in the contrary â—elief what a Person said to such is very pat â—o the purpose If says he you continue to disâ—ourse after this manner truly you will convert â—e And he was in the right for who would â—ot be afraid to continue in those Opinions where he is accompany'd with such wicked Persons So that those which only counterfeit these Opinions are very unhappy in constraining their Temper to imitate the most impertinent Perâ—ons in the World. If they be really troubled â—or not having more knowledg then let them â—ot dissemble it will be no shame to own it â—here is no shame but in being shameless Nothing does more discover a greater weakness of Mind than not to know a Man's Misery without God nothing more demonstrates a meanness of Spirit than not earnestly to desire the enjoyment of Eternal Promises nothing is more stupid than to appear obstinate against God Leave then these extravagancies to those that are so wretched as to be capable of them if they will not be good Christians let them forbear being profligate and at last own there are but two sorts of Men which may be called reasonable either those who serve God with all their Heart because they know him or those which seek after him with all their heart because they do not yet know him It is then for such Persons as seek sincerely after God and that confessing their Misery truly desire to be freed from it that it is just to contribute what help may be to asist and direct theâ— to the light they seek for But as for those who live without knowing or seeking God they judge themselves so unworthy of their own case thaâ— they are not worthy others should be concerned for them and one ought to have all the Charity of the Religion they despise not to slight theâ— so far as to abandon them to their Folly. Buâ— because this Religion obliges us to have a tenderness for them during Life as being capable â—â— enjoying the Grace which may enlighten them and to believe they may in time be replenish'â— with a greater Measure of Faith than we anâ— and that we also may fall into the ignoranâ— wherein they be we must do for them as wâ— would desire others should do for us were wâ— in their Condition and stir them up to have piâ— on themselves and at least endeavour to attaâ—â— some degree of light Let them afford some of the Hours they waste elsewhere in reading this Work happily they may find some profit by it at least they can be no great losers But as for such as shall read it with true sincerity and a desire of knowing the Truth I doubt not but they will find satisfaction and that they will be fully convinc'd of the Proofs of so Holy a Religion as is contained in it §. II. Marks of the True Religion 1. THe Sign of true Religion is to oblige Men to love God. This is very just nevertheless no other Religion but ours commands this It ought also to know the frailty of Man and the weakness he is in of acquiring Virtue by his own strength it should prescribe the Remedies whereof Prayer is the chief Our Religion doth all this no other Religion never sought of God to love and follow him 2. * To manifest a Religion to be true it must fully understand our Nature for the true Nature of Man his real Happiness true Virtue and true Religion are things whose knowledg are inseparable It ought to have a right understanding of the Happiness and Misery of Man and the Reason of one and the other What other besides the Christian Religion hath known all these things 3. * Other Religions as that of Pagans is more Popular for they consist all in outward shew but they are not approved by Wise Men a Religion more Spiritual would be more suitable to Prudent Persons but then it would not be so fit for the common People The Christian Religion alone is proportion'd to all regarding both the exterior and interior It raises the People to Contemplate inwardly and abaseth the Proud in the exteriour and is not perfect without the one and the other for the People must understand the Spirit of the Letter that the Learned should submit their Spirit to the Letter in performing the exterior Part. 4. * We deserve to be hated Reason convinces us of this Truth Now no other Religion but the Christian Religion doth teach to hate themselves no other Religion than should be allowed by those that know their own unworthiness 5. * No other Religion whatsoever besides the Christian Religion has understood that Man is the most Excellent and also the most Miserable Creature some that have understood the reality of his Excellence have esteemed as low and mean the Opinions Men have naturally of themselves and others that have known how true this Misery of Man is have as much on the other hand despis'd those Opinions of Grandeur which are so natural to Man. 6. * No Religion but ours has taught that Man is born in Sin no Sect of Philosophers has taught it none therefore said true 7. * God being invisible any Religion that teacheth not that God is invisible is not true and that Religion that gives not the Reason of it is not edifying ours doth all this 8. * That Religion that consists in believing the fall of Man from a State of Glory and Communion with God into a State of Sorrow of Penitence and Absence from God but that in the End he should be restor'd by a Messias to come has always been in the World All things are passed away and that abides for whom are all things for God designing to make himself a Holy People that he would separate from all Nations that he would save from their Enemies that he would gather into a place of Rest promis'd to do it and to come into the World to that effect and foretold by his Prophets the time and manner of his coming and in the mean time to confirm the hope of his Elect in all Ages he gave them Types and Figures and never left them without great assurances of his power and good will for their Salvation for at the Creation of the World Adam was the witness and depository of the Promise of the Saviour that was to be born of the Seed of the Woman And though Men were yet so near the Infancy of the World that they could not forget their Creation and their Fall and the Promise God made of sending a Redeemer nevertheless in those first Ages of the World suffering themselves to be carry'd away by all sorts of disorders yet there were some Holy Men as Enoch Lamech and others
pleas'd every Day whereas formerly they were oft times forc'd to spread their Tarry Sails and with avidity catch the Drops of Rain any kind Cloud did spare them or were forc'd to drink putrid Waters that caus'd the Miscarriage of many Rich Ships and the Death and loss of many brave Seamen Some boast of their Atchievements in Wars by Land others of their Successes by Sea it is only the Vertuous Man that feels true Content and Pleasure in controlling his own unruly Passions by bringing them in Subjection to the Rules of Right Reason and of the Will of God. It is said of Alexander the Great that he wept when he heard there was no more Worlds to conquer Time has now disprov'd that great Philosopher Hipocrates and Physicians Maxim Ars longa vita brevis What part of the World which of the Elements has not your Stupendious Wit penetrated and still are ready with a more than Herculean Force to Attempt and surmount those things that to others seem impossible to be effected But Words are too weak to display the least of your Merits your own Works will better transmit your Memory to Posterity therefore knowing too much Commendation though never so well deserv'd is a burden to Modest Ears I shall restrain my Pen from so Pleasant a Theme and subscribe my self Honoured Sir Your Faithful Servant ever to be Comanded JOS. WALKER THE PREFACE Done from the French. Wherein is shew'd in what manner these Thoughts were Written and Collected what deferr'd the Publishing of them what the Authors Design was in this Work and how it was that he spent the last Years of his Life MOnsieur Pascall did not long persist in Reading the Mathematicks Physick and other Prophane Studies although he therein for the time made as great Progress as any that handled those Matters About the Thirtieth year of his Age he apply'd himself to weighter and more serious things and to addict himself wholly as much as his Health would permit to the Study of the Holy Scriptures the Fathers and Christian Morality And though he no less excell'd in these Sciences than he did in others as has appear'd by Treatises made by him which are esteem'd perfect enough in their Kind yet it may be truly said that if God had given him space to have labour'd some longer time on that he had a Design to do concerning Religion and about which he intended to spend the residue of his Life this Work had very far surpassed all the rest of his Writings because that his Knowledge and Light on this Subject was infinitely greater than that he had of other things I suppose there is no body but will easily believe so by seeing the little now expos'd to view how imperfect soever it seems to be especially knowing the manner he did it in and the whole History of the Collecting and disposing of it Monsieur Pascall contriv'd the design of this Work several years before his Death yet it is not to be thought strange that it was so long before he committed it to Writing for he was wont to Ruminate a good while of things and to digest them in his Mind before he made any shew of them fully to consider and weigh which part to set foremost and which should follow and the best way of Marshalling them that so they may produce the Effect he desir'd And being endow'd with an Excellent and as may be said a Prodigious Memory he often said he never forgot any thing he had once imprinted in his Mind so that when he once apply'd himself to a Subject he never fear'd that the Thoughts he conceiv'd should pass out of his Memory therefore he often deferr'd Writing them either for want of leisure or that his Health would not suffer him to apply himself closely and effectually to it being almost always very languishing and sickly This was the Reason that at his Death the greatest part of what he had already conceiv'd touching his Design was lost for he had not scarce noted any of the principal Reasons that he intended to use as grounds whereon to raise his Building and the Order he intended to observe which doubtless was very considerable All this was so deeply rooted in his Mind and Memory that having neglected to write it when it may be he was able it happen'd that he could not at all do it when probably he would have done it However about Ten oâ— Twelve years ago there fell out an occasion wherein he was oblig'd not to write what was in his Mind touching this Subject but to declare something concerning it by Word of Mouth he did it in Presence and at the request of several very considerable Persons of his Acquaintance In few Words he discover'd to them the whole design of his Work he represented to them the Subject and Matter of it he related to them succinctly the Reasons and Grounds of it and he explain'd to them the Order and Method of things he intended to Treat of These Persons being as capable as may be to judge of things of this Nature freely confessed that they never heard any thing finer weightier nor more Pathetical and Convincing that they were charm'd at it and that what they saw of this Project and Design in a Discourse of Two or Three hours long made Extempore without any notice or time of Preparation made them conjecture what it might be one day if it ever came to be executed and brought to Perfection by a Person whose Capacity and Parts they had such Knowledge of for he was wont so to revise his Works that he scarce ever was satisfy'd with his first Thoughts how good soever they appear'd to others and has sometimes done a thing Eight or Ten times over which others would have judg'd to have been extraordinary well at first Having represented to them what were the Evidences that make the greatest impression on the Minds of Men and the fittest to perswade them he undertook to shew that Christian Religion had as many Marks of Certainty and Evidence as those things which are believed most undoubtedly in the World. To this effect he first of all begins with a Description of Man wherein he omits nothing that might make him known both Internally and Externally even to the most secret Thoughts of his Heart Then he imagins a Man that having always liv'd in a general ignorance and indifference of all things and especially of himself at length comes to consider his own Portraicture and to Examin what he is he is surpris'd therein to see several things that he never dreamt of and he cannot without Wonder and Admiration believe what Monsieur Pascall mentions of his Greatness and of his Misery of his Privileges and of his Infirmities of the little Knowledge and Light he has left and of the great Ignorance wherewith he is encompass'd And to conclude of the many strange Contrarieties that are in his Nature he cannot after all this remain in a State of
he shewed the Sense and Meaning of them with wonderful Skill and set them in their full Beauty and Lustre To conclude Having run over the Books of the Old Testament and laid down several Convincing Observations to serve as Proofs and a Ground for Religion he also undertook to speak of the New Testament and also to draw Proofs of it from the New Testament it self He began by Jesus Christ and though he had already undeniably prov'd it by Prophecies and by the Types of the Law wherein the perfect Accomplishment was found in him he produced also several other Proofs drawn from his very Person from his Miracles his Doctrine and all the Circumstances of his Life Then he Insisted on the Apostles and to shew the Truth of the Faith they every where Preached having shewn they could not be charg'd of Imposture but in supposing that they were Cheats or that they were cozen'd themselves he manifestly shew'd that both these Surmises were alike impossible To conclude He omitted nothing of what might contribute to the Truth of the History of the Gospel making fine Observations on the Gospel it self on the Stile of the Evangelists and on their Persons particularly on the Apostles and on their Writings on their many Miracles on the Saints and Martyrs and in a Word on all the Degrees whereby Christian Religion came to be Establish'd in the World. And though in one Discourse he had not time at large to Treat of so Ample a Subject as he intended to do in his Work yet he said enough to shew that all this could not be the Work of Men and that it was God only that could conduct the Success of so many different Effects that do all concenter equally and invincibly to prove the Religion he himself came to Establish amongst Men. These in Substance are the principal things he intended to Treat of in this Discourse which he propos'd to those that heard him only as 〈◊〉 Epitome of the Body of the Work he designed and it is by means of one of those then present that what I have Recited came to be understood In the Fragments now published some part of Monsieur Pascall's great Design may be seen and these very things therein to be seen are so imperfect so succinct and so ill dispos'd that they can give but a very imperfect view of the Manner how he intended to handle them Moreover it must not be thought strange if in the little that is publish'd the Order and Method he intended is not kept in publishing them having scarce any one thing that depended upon another it was not necessary to be ty'd up to that Rule and it was thought sufficient to dispose them in the way and manner as might be judg'd most proper and convenient for what was found of his And it is hoped that there are but few Persons that having reflected on Monsieur Pascall's Design but will of themselves supply this want of Method and that seriously considering the divers Subjects contain'd in these Fragments will easily judge whereunto they referr according to the Idea of him who wrote them If this Discourse had been preserv'd at large and in the manner it was pronounc'd one might have some cause of being Comforted for the Defect of this Work and it may be said that one had at least a little imperfect Pattern of it But God was not pleas'd that he should leave us either the one or the other For a little while after he fell sick of a lingering Disease which continu'd the last Four Years of his Life which though it appear'd not outwardly to be much nor oblig'd him to keep his Bed or Chamber yet it was very troublesom and hinder'd him from doing almost any thing so that the chief Care and Business of those that attended him was to hinder him from Writing and even from speaking of any thing that savour'd of any difficulty and to Entertain him only of things indifferent and that might least disturb him Nevertheless it was during these Four years of Sickness and Pain that he fram'd and wrote all that he left and meditated of this Work and which is now publish'd in this Treatise for though he deferr'd setting in good earnest about this Work till he recover'd his Health and to have Writ and reduc'd in Order the things he had before digested and disposed in his Mind nevertheless when there came any new Thoughts any Notions new Idea's or even any Turn or Expression that he saw might serve his Design being not then in a Condition to apply himself as diligently about it as he did in his Health nor imprint them so firmly in his Mind and Memory as he was wont he thought better to Note them down than to forget them and to that End he took the first piece of Paper he could find whereon he would write down his Thoughts in few Words and many times only at halves for he did it only for himself therefore he thought it sufficient only to do it very briefly not to weary himself and only to Note down what was sufficient to make him remember what was in his Mind It was in this manner he Wrote most of the Fragments contain'd in this Collection so that it is nothing to be wonder'd at if some are to be found which seem to be imperfect too short and too intricate and wherein also may be found Terms and Expressions not so Proper and Elegant as might be Nevertheless it some times hapned that having his Pen in his Hand he could not forbear being led by his Fancy but that he advanc'd his Thoughts and extended them farther although it was never with the strength and industry of Mind as he might have done in his perfect Health therefore it is that some will be seen to be more Copious and better Writ than others and some Chapters more Uniform and Perfect than others This is the manner in which these Thoughts were Written and I believe there is no body but will easily judge by these slight beginnings and Essays of a Sick Person which he wrote only for his private use and but to bring to Mind some Thoughts he fear'd to forget which he never review'd nor alter'd what the intire Work would have been if Monsieur Pascall had recover'd his perfect Health and put the last hand to it he who knew so well to dispose things in so clear a Lustre and good Order that gave so Noble Fine and Elevated a Grace to all that he said and intended to have taken more Pains and Care about this Treatise than on all those that he had ever Writ before and also would employ all the Skill and Industry of Mind and Talents God had bestow'd on him the which he often said would require Ten years time to compleat and finish It being known that Monsieur Pascall intended to Write concerning Religion there was very great care taken to preserve all his Papers on this Subject After his Death they were found
would only have render'd them squallid and would have depriv'd them of their greatest Ornament which is to say much in a few Words An Instance may be seen hereof in one of the Fragments of the Chapter of the Proofs of Jesus Christ by Prophecies pag. 85. conceiv'd in these Words The Prophets spake of particular things and of the Messias to the end that the Prophecies of the Messias should not be without Proofs and that particular Prophecies should not be without Fruit. In this Fragment he shews the Reason wherefore the Prophets that only look at the Messias and that should chiefly have Prophesy'd of him and of his Reign nevertheless often foretold particular things which seem'd but little to concern their Design He says it was to the end that these particular Events being Daily accomplish'd in the sight of all Men just as they were foretold they were undoubtedly own'd for true Prophets and by that means the certainty of what they Prophesy'd of the Messias was not in the least to be question'd So that by this means the Prophecies of the Messias did in some sort inferr their Certainty and Authority from these particular Prophecies which were verifyed and accomplished and these particular Prophecies thus serving to prove and Authorize those of the Messias they were not unfruitful and useless this is the Sense of this Fragment being explain'd It appears also necessary to undeceive some Persons that happily may expect herein to find Proofs and Geometrical Demonstrations of the Existence of God of the Immortality of the Soul and several other Articles of the Christian Faith this was not Monsieur Pascall's Aiâ—â— He design'd not to discover these Truths of Christian Religion by such kind of Demonstrations grounded on evident Principles able to convince the most obdurate Persons nor by Metaphysical Disputations which for the most part rather divert than perswade the Mind Nor by common places drawn from the divers Effects of Nature but by Moral Proofs which more touch the Heart than the Understanding that is he endeavour'd more to affect the Heart than to convince or perswade the Judgment knowing very well that Passions and Evil habits which corrupt the Heart and the Will are the greatest hindrances that obstruct our Faith and that if those Lets can be remov'd it would be no hard matter to convey into the Understanding those Reasons which may effectually convince it One shall be easily convinc'd of the Truth hereof in Reading this Treatise But Monsieur Pascall has explain'd himself in one of his Fragments found amongst his Papers not Inserted in this Collection Thus he speaks in this Fragment I will not here undertake to prove by Natural Reasons the Existence of God or the Trinity or the Immortality of the Soul nor other things of this Nature not only because I should not think my self able to find in Nature sufficient to convince obstinate Atheists but also because this Knowledge without Jesus Christ is useless and barren Though a Man should be perswaded that the proportion of Numbers are Truths Immaterial Eternal and depending of a former Truth wherein they subsist and which is called God yet I should not think such a one much advanc'd in his Salvation It may be some will think strange to find such a great Variety of Thoughts in this Collection some of which seem so little to relate to the Subject Monsieur Pascall undertook to Write of to this may be reply'd that his Design was far greater than many do imagin and that he did not just Limit himself within the Bounds of Confuting the Arguments of Atheists and of such as deny some Articles of the Christian Religion The great Love and singular Esteem he had for Religion so wrought with him that he could not only admit that it should be wholly destroy'd but also endeavour'd it should not be injur'd nor corrupted in any part of it so that he bid open defiance to all those that oppos'd either the Truth or Holiness of it that is as well Atheists and Infidels as Hereticks who refuse to submit the false Lights of their Reason unto Faith and that do refuse to believe the Truths which it teacheth us also he doth the like to Christians and Catholicks who being within the Pale of the Church do not however Live according to the Purity of the Gospel Precepts which is the Rule and Pattern by which we ought to direct and govern all our Actions This was his main Design and it was vast and large enough to comprehend most of the things contain'd in this Collection Nevertheless some few may be found that have but little relation thereunto and which indeed were not intended for it as for Example most of those that are in the Chapter of Divers Thoughts which indeed were found amongst Monsieur Pascall's Papers and were thought fit to be added to the others for this Book is not Publish'd barely as a Work made against Atheists or touching Religion but as a Collection of Thoughts touching Religion and some other things There remains no more to end this Preface but to say something of the Author having spoke of his Work I not only think this to be necessary but also believe that what I intend to say will be useful to shew how it was Monsieur Pascall came to have so high an Esteem and Love for Religion as to undertake the Design of this Work. It has already been shewn briefly in the Preface of the Treatises of the Weight of Liquors and of the Weight of Air how it was that he passed his Youth and the great Progress he made in a short time in all human and prophane Sciences that he set about and especially in Geometry and the Mathematicks the strange and surprising way that he learn'd them at Eleven or Twelve years old the little Works he sometimes perform'd which always surpass'd the strength of a Person of his Age the Wonderful and Prodigious Effect of his Understanding and Wit which appear'd in his Machine of Arithmetick invented by him when he was but Nineteen years of Age And to conclude the Learn'd Experiments of Vacuity which he perform'd in Presence of several Persons of Learning and Quality of the City of Roüan where he Resided whilst his Father Monsieur Le President Pascall was Employ'd there in the Kings Business as Intendent of Justice so that I 'll omit relating any of that in this place and shall only repeat in few Words how he slighted all these Honours and how it was that he passed the latter Years of his Life wherein he shew'd no less the Greatness and Solidity of his Vertue and Piety than before he had shewn the Vastness and Admirable depth of his Wisdom In his Youth by Gods particular Care and Goodness he had been preserv'd from all those Vices whereunto most young People are Subject and what is not very usual to so great a Wit as his he was never inclin'd to Novelty in what related to Religion having ever
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.
Conversation in the World whereunto all Religion does tend and this Love inclin'd him incessantly to remove all that should oppose these Truths He was endu'd with a Natural Eloquence which gave him a wonderful facility in saying what he pleas'd but thereunto he added Rules not before thought of and the which he imployed to so great advantage that he was Master of his Style so that he not only said what he would but he said it in the manner that he pleas'd and his Discourse wrought the Effect he desir'd And this way of writing naturally clear and strong was so proper and peculiar to him that as soon as his Letters did but appear at the Provincials they were known to be his what care soever he took to conceal them It was about this time God was pleas'd to heal my Daughter of a Running Fistula It had made so great progress in three years time and a half that the Filth Issued out not only by the Eyes but also the Nose and Mouth And this Fistula was of so malignant a Quality that the ablest Chirurgeons of Paris judg'd it incurable Nevertheless she was cured of it in a moment by touching a holy Thorn and this Miracle was so certain that it was owned by every body being attested by the ablest Physicians and Chirurgeons of France and authoriz'd by the Solemn Judgment of the Church My Brother was sensibly touched with this Favour which he lookt upon as done to himself because 't was done to a Person that besides the nearness of Relation was also his Spiritual Daughter in Baptism and his Joy was the greater to see God manifested himself so suddenly in a time when Religion seem'd to be wholly extinct in the Hearts of most Men his Joy was so great that he was transported with it so that having his Mind taken up with this Blessing God inspired him with several fine Notions touching Miracles which giving him farther Lights in matters of Religion increased the Love and Respect he always had for it It was on this occasion that he shew'd the extream desire he had to undertake to refute the chief and greatest Arguments of Atheists he had considered them with great diligence and employ'd his Wits to find out the means of refuting them He employ'd himself wholly about this Business he spent the last Year of his Life wholly in gathering sundry Thoughts on this Subject but God that had put this as well as all other Thoughts in his Mind was not pleas'd to permit him to finish them for Reasons unknown to us Nevertheless the retirement from the World which he so carefully practis'd hinder'd not but that he often saw Persons of great Quality and Parts who having Thoughts of forsaking the World desired his advice and follow'd it exactly others that were unsatisfy'd in their Minds touching Matters of Faith knowing that he was of great Judgment came to advise with him and always return'd well satisfi'd so that all these Persons that live at present very comfortable Lives do confess that 't was by his Advice and Council under God and the directions he gave them that they owe all the Good and Happiness they enjoy The Company wherein he was often ingaged although 't was all on Charitable Accounts nevertheless gave him some apprehension least there might be some danger in it but as he could not in point of Conscience refuse the help People desir'd of him he found an expedient for it At some certain times he would take an Iron girdle full of sharp Iron Pricks which he would wear next his bare Skin and when any vain Thought came in his Mind or that he took any delight where he was or the like he would strike it with his Elbow to redouble the Pain and so by this means would put himself in mind of his Duty This Custom appear'd so useful to him that he continu'd it till his Death and even in his latter Days wherein he was in continual sorrow Because he could neither Read nor Write he was constrain'd to be as 't were Idle and only to walk about He was under a great apprehension least this want of business should hinder him from his Aym we did not know these things till after his Death and then by a Person of great Merit that much confided in him to whom he was obliged to relate them for Reasons that concern'd himself This severity he used upon himself was drawn from this great Maxim of forsaking all Pleasure whereon he had regulated the whole remainder of his Life from the beginning of his retirement he failed not also to practice this other of cutting off all superfluity for he had cut off with so much exactness all excess that by little and little he reduc'd himself not to have any Hangings in his Room thinking it was not necessary and besides was not oblig'd to it out of Decency because there came none there but his Servants whom he constantly exhorted to Moderation so that they were nothing surpriz'd at it seeing their Master live after the manner he advis'd them to do This is the manner he spent Five years of his Life from Thirty to Thirty five labouring incessantly for God for his Neighbour and for himself striving to perfect himself more and more and it may be said this was all the time he lived for the last Four years of his Life was nothing but a continual languishing It could not be said to be a sickness that had newly seized him but a redoubling of sicknesses he had been subject unto from his Childhood But he was now seized with so great violence and pain that he was forc'd to stoop to it and during all this he could not spend any time at the great work he had designed touching Religion nor assist those Persons that apply'd themselves to him for advice neither by word nor by writing his pains were so violent he could not satisfie them though he was very willing to do it This renewing of his sickness began by a violent pain of his Teeth that wholly deprived him of his sleep In his continual watching one night unawars there came into his Thoughts something about the Proposition of the Roulette this Thought was followed by another that by another to conclude a multitude of Thoughts succeeded one another that at length whether he would or no he discover'd the demonstration of all those things whereat he himself was not a little surpriz'd But having a good while before given over thinking of these Sciences he did not so much as vouchsafe to note them down nevertheless having spoke of it to a Person for whom he had a great kindness and honour this Person being considerable as well for Birth as for his great Learning and Piety having thereupon formed a design which tended only to the Glory of God thought fit he might use them which he did and afterwards had them printed It was at that time he wrote it but in great haste in Eight
MONTALTIUS Heu Satis dixi urgent Lacrymae Sileo Et qui bene precaberis bene tibi eveniat vivo mortuo Vixit An. 39. M. 2. Obiit an rep Sal. 1662. 14. Kal. Sept. Posuit A. P. D. C. Moerens Aurelian Canonista Cecidit Pascalis Heu Heu qualis Luctus Monsieur Pascall is bury'd at Paris in St. Stephen 's of the Mount being the Parish wherein he liv'd behind the great Altar on the right Hand near the Corner of the Pillar of the same Chapel The Epitaph is on the Ground but obliterated Monsieur PASCALL'S Thoughts and Reflections Upon Matters of RELIGION And also upon several other Subjects §. I. Against Atheism LET those that dispute against Religion at least first learn what Religion is before they strive against it If Religion did boast to have a clear sight of God and to behold him openly without a Veil then there might be some colour of disputing against it by saying there is nothing to be seen in the World that shews it with any great evidence But seeing that it declares on the contrary that Men are in ignorance and estranged from God that God has hid himself from their knowledg and 't is the Name he gives himself in the Scriptures Deus absconditus and to conclude that it equally endeavours to teach these two things that God has in the Church given sensible marks to make himself be known to those which sincerely seek him and nevertheless has so cover'd them that they shall not be known but only to those that seek him with all their heart what advantage then can they expect whilst continuing in a State of indifferency wherein they profess to seek the Truth they complain that nothing discovers it to them seeing this obscurity they are in and which they impute to the Church â—ot fully prove one of the main Arguments she holds without prejudicing the other and far from destroying does confirm her Doctrine To say any thing to purpose against it they should declare that they have used their utmost endeavours in trying all ways and even those things the Church offers as means of instruction but yet can find no satisfaction would they speak in this manner they would indeed dispute against one of these pretensions but I hope to make appear that no reasonable Person can say so and I dare avouch that none ever did It may easily be judged how those Persons act that are of this mind They think they have done enough for their information when they have spent a few hours in reading the Scriptures or that they have asked some questions of a Clergy Man concerning the true Religion which being done they boast that they have consulted Men and Books without any success But truly I cannot forbear saying what I have often said that this negligence is insupportable It is not the slight interest of some Stranger that is here in question it is our selves and our All that is here concern'd The Immortality of the Soul is a thing that so much regards and so deeply concerns us that we might have quite lost our Feeling not to be profoundly affected about it All our Thoughts and Actions should be so variously directed according to the Eternal rewards that are to be or not to be hoped for that 't is impossible to stir a right step without directing it by this Compass which must be our last Object Therefore our chiefest interest and duty is to inform our selves on this Subject whereupon depends our chiefest safety and amongst such as are not satisfy'd I make a great difference of those that use their best endeavour to be instructed and those that live carelesly and without thinking or troubling themselves about it I cannot but much pity those that sincerely groan under this doubt that look upon it as the greatest evil and that make it their greatest study and business to use all means possible to get out of it But for such as spend their time without ever thinking of their latter end and that because they have not in themselves knowledg sufficient to convince them neglect to seek any farther and to examine if this Opinion be of those which Men receive by meer credulity or of those which though obscure yet have a good and solid Foundation these I consider quite different This negligence in a business that concerns themselves their Eternity their All affects me more with indignation than compassion it astonishes and affrights me it is monstrous to me I do not say this through the pious Zeal of a spiritual Devotion on the contrary I pretend that Self-Love human Interest the purest light of Reason should inspire us with these Thoughts to know this we need only see what Persons of the meanest Capacities understand It needs no depth of knowledg to understand that in this Life no true solid satisfaction is to be had that our Pleasures are but Vanity that our Miseries are Infinite and that Death which threatens us every moment will in a few years it may be in a few days put us into an Eternal State of Happiness or Misery or of Annihilation betwixt us Heaven Hell or Annihilation there is nothing but Life which is the britlest thing in the World Heaven not being for those which doubt the Immortality of their Soul such can only expect Hell or to be reduc'd to nought There is nothing truer than this nor nothing more terrible let us carry it never so stout this is the end that attends the bravest life in the World. It is in vain to go about to divert their thoughts from this Eternity that waits for them as if they could destroy it in banishing it from their minds â— subsists in spight of them it comes on and Death that lets it in will infallibly in a short time reduce them to a necessity of being Eternally annihilated or miserable See here a doubt of terrible Consequence and it is certainly a very great Evil to be in this Doubt and it is an indispensible Duty to try if one be in it He that doubts and seeketh no Remedy is both unjust and miserable but if in this State he is quiet and satisfy'd let him boast of it and to conclude let him glory in it and let it be of such a State that he makes his Joy and Delight I have not Words to describe so extravagant a Creature How can it be possible to entertain such thoughts What Comfort can there be in expecting nothing but endless Miseries What cause of Joy can there be to see ones self involv'd in utter Darkness What Comfort can there be never to expect any deliverance Repose in this ignorance is a thing so Monstrous that the stupidity and extravagance of it must be shew'd to those that pass their time in it in shewing what is transacted in themselves to awaken them by the sight of their own Folly. For see here how those Men reason which choose to live in this ignorance of themselves and
Pagans it is Custom makes so many sundry Trades Soldiers c. It s true one must not begin by it to seek for Truth but when once the Understanding has discover'd Truth recourse must be had to her to be fortifi'd in that belief which otherwise we should be often ready to forget for it would be too tedious always to have Proofs in readiness We must acquire an easie Belief which is a kind of Habit that without violence Art or Argument may make us believe things and incline our Faculties to this belief so that our Minds may naturally fall into it It is not sufficient to believe by force of conviction if the Senses incline us to believe the contrary We must make our two parts march together the Understanding by the Reason through which it has been once already sufficiently convinc'd and the Senses by Custom in not suffering them to incline any other way § VIII The Portraiture of a Man tired in seeking God by Reasoning and that begins to Read the Scriptures 1. IN seeing the Blindness and Misery of Man and those strange contradictions which are discover'd in his Nature and seeing the whole Universe dumb and Man left in darkness abandon'd to himself and as it were lost in a corner of the World not knowing who put him there what his business is nor what will become of him when he dies I am amaz'd like a Man that should be carry'd a sleep into a desolate Island and that awaking knows not where he is nor any means of getting out hereupon I admire that most don't despair in such a miserable State. I see others by me of the same Nature I ask them if they are better inform'd than I they say no. Whereupon those miserable straglers lookking about them and seeing some pleasant Objects presently were wholly taken up with them as for my particular I could not be satisfi'd so nor could take any Pleasure in the Society of Persons like my self that were miserable as I was and indigent like my self I see they cannot give me comfort in my Death I will die alone now were I alone I would not build Houses I would not concern my self in troublesom businesses I would not seek the esteem of any body I would only endeavour to discover Truth So that considering how great likelihood there is of something else besides what I see I inquir'd if this God every body speaks of hath not given some Marks of himself I look every where and see nothing but obscurity Nature presents nothing to me but what admits of doubt and inquietude if I see nothing therein that shew'd a Divinity I would conclude not to believe at all If I every where see the marks of a Creator I would rest at quiet in believing but seeing too much to deny and too little to be assur'd I am in a State to be pitti'd and have wish'd a hunder'd times that if there be a God that supports Nature it would have shewn him plainly and that if the Marks that be given are fallacious that they had been wholly omitted that it would have said all or nothing to the end I might have known what side to have taken whereas in the State I am in not knowing what I am nor what I should do I neither know my Condition nor my Duty My heart is wholly bent to know where the chiefest good is to follow it I should think nothing too dear to obtain it I see a great many Religions in all parts of the World and at all times but neither do their Morals please me nor their Proofs convince me so that I should as well have refus'd the Religion of Mahomet as that of China and the Romans and Egyptians for this only Reason that the one having no more Marks of Truth than the other nor nothing that determines Reason cannot incline to one of them any more than the other But whilst I consider this inconstancy and strange variety of Manners and Religions in the divers Ages I find in a little part of the World a peculiar People separate from all the Nations of the Earth whose Histories are much antienter by several Ages than any others whatsoever I find this People great and numerous they Adore one God and are govern'd by a Law which they say they receiv'd from his Hand they affirm they are the only People in the World to whom God has revealed his Mysteries that all Men are Corrupt and under Gods Wrath that they are abandon'd to their Lusts and to their own Will and that from thence proceeds the strange Errors and continual Changes which happen amongst them both in Customs and Religion whereas they continue unmovable in their Course But God will not always leave the other Nations in darkness there will a Redeemer come for all that they are in the World to declare this that they are made on purpose to be the Hero's of this great design and to invite all Nations to joyn with them in expecting this Redeemer I am surpriz'd at the finding this People and they deserve to be seriously consider'd for the many singular and admirable things that do there appear It is a People all compos'd of Brethren and whereas all others are made up of the Mass of a number of Families this although so very numerous all proceeded from one Man and so being one Flesh and Members one of another they make up one united strength of one sole Family This is singular This is the antientest People that is in the knowledg of Man which induces me to recommend unto it a particular Veneration espectally in the search which we are making for if God has at all times reveal'd himself to Men it is to this People recourse must be had for information This People is not only considerable for Antiquity but is also singular for their Duration having always subsisted from their first Original till now whereas the Grecians Laâ—edaemonians Athenians Romans c. and the others that came so long after them are extinct and these still remain notwithstanding the attempts of so many great Kings that have a hundred times essay'd to destroy them as Historians inform us and as is easie to be judg'd by the Natural course of things and through length of time wherein they have still subsisted and continuing from the first to the last times their History by its continuance contains in it the substance of all our Histories The Law whereby this People is govern'd is both the antientest and most perfect Law in the World it is the only Law that was always observ'd without interruption in any State as is mention'd by Philo the Jew in sundry places and admirably well by Josephus against Appion where he shews that 't is so antient that the very name of a Law was not known by the most antient till above a thousand years after this was promulgated insomuch as Homer that spake of so many People never us'd it And the purity of
and not to Redeem it §. XVI Divers Proofs of Jesus Christ 1. NOt to believe the Apostles it must be said they were deceiv'd or went about to deceive others both one and the other is difficult As to the former it is impossible to be mistaken in taking a Man to be risen again and as for the other the Hypothesis that they were deceived is strangely absurd trace it all along Let it be imagin'd these twelve Men assembled after the Death of Jesus Christ combining together to say he was risen again they thereby resisted all the Magistrates and Government The Heart of Man is strangely inclin'd to inconstancy lightness change to promises and to Riches But not one of these Men were shaken by any of these advantages no nor by threats of Prisons Torments or Death if they had they had all been undone Let this be consider'd 2. * Whilst Jesus Christ was with them he might encourage them but afterwards had he not appear'd to them what is it made them proceed 3. * The Stile of the Gospel is admirable in an infinite number of ways and amongst others in that there is no invective to be seen us'd by any of the Historians against Judas or Pilate nor against any of the Enemies or Persecutors of Jesus Christ Had this modesty of the Evangelical Historians been affected as well as so many other touches of so fine a Character and that they had not affected it but only to have it be taken notice of had they not dared to have observ'd it themselves they would not have failed to have got friends that would have made these remarks in their behalf But as they acted in this manner without affectation and by a motion wholly without Self-interest they have not made it be observ'd by any I know not if it hath been observ'd to this day and 't is what shews with what Simplicity the thing was done 4. * Jesus Christ did work Miracles and the Apostles after him also the first Christians did many because the Prophesies not being yet accomplished and being fulfill'd by them nothing gave full Evidence but the Miracles It was Prophesied the Messias should Convert the Gentiles how was this Prophesie accomplish'd but in the Conversion of the Nations and how could the Nations be converted to the Messias unless they saw this last effect of the Prophesies that prov'd it Before he Died before his Resurrection and the Conversion of the Gentiles all was not accomplish'd and so Miracles were requisite all that while Now there needs no more for Proof of the truth of the Christian Religion for the Prophesies accomplish'd are a standing Proof 5. * The condition the Jews are yet in is also a great Proof of the Christian Religion it is a wonderful thing to see that Nation subsist so many Ages and in so miserable a Condition it being necessary to prove Jesus Christ that they should subsist and that they should be miserable because they Crucifi'd him and though it be very contrary to subsist and be miserable yet they still subsist in spight of their misery 6. * But were they not almost in the same Misery in the time of the Captivity No the Scepter was not departed by reason of the Babylonish Captivity because their Restoration was promis'd and foretold When Nebuchadnezzar led away the People fearing least it should be thought the Scepter was departed from Judah they were told before that they should be there but for a short time and that they should be restor'd again they were always comforted by their Prophets and their Kings continu'd But the second destruction is without any Promise of Restoration without Prophets without Kings without comfort or hope because the Scepter is departed for ever It was in a manner not to be Captives to be so only for Seventy years with assurance to be restor'd again to Liberty but now they are so without any hope 7. * God promis'd them that though he scatter'd them to the ends of the Earth yet if they kept his Law he would restore them they keep it very punctually now and yet are kept under The Messias must then be come and the Law that contain'd these Promises is accomplished by establishing another new Law. 8. * Had the Jews been all Converted by Jesus Christ we should only have had doubtful Witnesses and had they been quite destroy'd we should have had none at all 9. * The Jews deny'd him but not all the Righteous believ'd in him not the Carnal Jews And this is so far from being against his Glory that it is the highest pitch of it The reason they had and what is only found in their Writings in the Talmud and the Rabbins is only because Jesus Christ did not Conquer the Nations by force of Arms. Jesus Christ say they was slain he was overcome he did not conquer the Gentiles by force he gave us not their Spoiles he brought us not any Worldly Riches Is this all they can say It is therein that he is Amiable I would not have such a one a Christ as they figure to themselves 10. * How pleasant it is to see with the Eye of Faith Darius Cyrus Alexander the Romans Pompey and Herod acting unawares to themselves for the glory and advancement of the Gospel §. XVII Against Mahomet 1. THe Religion of Mahomet has for its Foundation the Alchoran and Mahomet But this Prophet that was to be the last and great expectation of the World was He foretold And what mark has he but what every Man may have that will call himself a Prophet What Miracles doth he say himself that he wrought What Mysteries did he teach according to his own Traditions What Morals and what Felicity 2. * Mahomet is without any Authority his Reasons then had need be very strong having only their own weight 3. * If two Men discourse of things that appear mean but that the Discourse of one of them has a double Sense to those that hear them and the Discourse of the other has but one Sense if one that is not Privy to their Design hear these two Men speak after this manner he will judg they are both alike But if afterwards in the Rest of the Discourse one of them speaks of Angelical things and the other always of mean and common and even of impertinencies he will judge the one speaks mystically and not the other the one having sufficiently shewn he did not approve such Follies and was capable of Mysteries and the other that he was uncapable of Mysteries and capable of Impertinencies 4. * It is not that there 's any thing very obscure in Mahomet and that it should be thought he had a mysterious Sense that I would have things judg'd but because things are clear by his Paradise and the rest It is therein he is ridiculous It is not so of the Scriptures I grant there may be some dark Passages but there are things wonderfully clear and Prophesies manifestly
And they do not afford us any comfort in our Miseries but in procuring us a more real and effective Misery for it is what doth more effectively hinder us of thinking of our selves and that makes us insensibly lose our time If 't were not for it we should be weary and this weariness would incline us to seek some more solid means to get out of it But Divertisements cheat us amuse us and unawares makes us be surpriz'd by Death 4. * Men not being able to shun Death Misery Ignorance have bethought themselves of becoming happy by never thinking of these things It is all they could invent to comfort themselves against so many Evils but 't is but a miserable consolation because it don't reach so far as to cure the Sore but to hide it only for a little time and by hiding it makes one neglect to get it truly healed So that by a strange subversion of the Nature of Man he finds Weariness which is the most sensible Evil to him is in some sort his greatest Good because it may contribute more than any thing else in making him seek his true cure and that Play which he looks upon as his chiefest Good is indeed his greatest Evil because it hinders him more than any thing to seek the Remedy of his Miseries both the one and the other is an evident Proof of the Misery and Corruption of Man and in the same time of his Grandeur because Man is not wearied with all things and don 't seek these various Occupations but because he hath the Idea of the Happiness he has lost the which not finding in himself he in vain seeks it in outward things without ever being able to content himself because it is not to be had in us nor in the Creatures but in God only §. XXVII Of Miracles 1. VVE must judg of Doctrine by Miracles we must judg of Miracles by Doctrine The Doctrine discerns the Miracles and the Miracles discern the Doctrine all this is true but this doth not contradict each other 2. * There are Miracles that are certain Proofs of the Truth and there are some that are not certain Proofs of the Truth there must be some Mark to distinguish and to know them otherwise they would be of no use now they are not unuseful and on the contrary they are Foundations The Rule then that is given us must be such as that it must not destroy the Proof that true Miracles give of the Truth which is the chief end of Miracles 3. * Were there no Miracles joyn'd to Error there would be Certainty were there no Rule for discerning them Miracles would not be necessary and there would be no Reason to believe Moses gave one but 't was when the Miracle induced to Idolatry and Jesus Christ one Him saith he that doth Miracles in my Name cannot easily speak evil of Me. Whence it follows that whosoever declares himself openly against Jesus Christ cannot work Miracles in his Name If he does any 't is not in the Name of Jesus Christ and should not be regarded See here the occasions of Exclusion of the belief of Miracles marked there need no other Marks of exclusion be instanc'd when they turn you from God in the Old Testament when from Jesus Christ in the New Testament When therefore you see a Miracle one must submit or have very great evidences against it One must see if him that works it denies God or Jesus Christ 4. * That Religion is false that in its Faith doth not Adore one God as Author of all things and that in their Morals do not love only God. Any Religion that loves not Jesus Christ is notoriously false and Miracles cannot any way be profitable to it 5. * The Jews had a Doctrine of God as we have one of Jesus Christ it was confirm'd by Miracles and were forbidden to believe any that wrought Miracles and taught any Doctrine contrary to it also they were commanded to have Recourse to the High Priests and to obey them so that it appears that the Reasons that we have to refuse believing those that do Miracles they had the same in regard of Jesus Christ and his Apostles Nevertheless it is certain they were very guilty for refusing to believe them for their Miracles because Jesus Christ saith they had not been guilty if they had not seen his Miracles Si opera non fecissem in eis quae nemo alius fecit peccatum non haberent It follows then that he judged his Miracles were assured Proofs of what he taught and that the Jews were obliged to believe him And indeed it was the Miracles that render'd the Jews guilty of unbelief for the Proofs that could be taken from the Scriptures during the Life of Jesus Christ would not have been sufficiently clear for instance we find Moses said That a Prophet should arise but that was not enough to prove Jesus Christ was that Prophet and that was the Question these passages did shew that he might be the Messias and that with his Miracles were sufficient to prove that he was so effectively 6. * Prophesies alone could not prove Jesus Christ during his Life and so one had not been culpable for not believing in him before his Death had not the Miracles put all out of doubt therefore Miracles do suffice when one finds the Doctrine is not contrary and one ought to acquiesce 7. * Jesus Christ proved he was the Messias in verifying his Doctrine and Mission rather by his Miracles than by the Scripture and the Prophets It was by Miracles that Nicodemus confessed his Doctrine was of God Scimus quia à Deo venisti Magister nemo enim potest haec signa facere quae tu facis nisi fuerit Deus cum eo He don't Judg of Miracles by the Doctrine but of the Doctrine by Miracles So that if the Doctrine were doubtful as that of Christ might be to Nicodemus because it seem'd to destroy the Tradition of the Pharisees if there be Miracles clear and evident of the same side the evidence of the Miracle must turn the Scale against what there may be of difficulty in the Doctrine the which is grounded on this immutable Principle That God cannot command an Error There is a reciprocal Duty betwixt God and Men. Accuse me saith God in Isaiah What should I have done to my Vineyard that I have not done Men are bound to God to receive the Religion he sends them God is bound to Men not to lead them into Error Now they would be led into Error if the workers of Miracles taught them a false Doctrine that appeared not visibly false to the light of common Sense and that if one that had wrought greater Miracles had not before given warning not to believe them If there had been a Schism in the Church and that the Arians for Example who said they were grounded on the Scriptures as well as the Catholicks had wrought Miracles and
not the Catholicks one might have been led into Error for as a Man that teaches us the Secrets of God is not to be believed upon his own Authority so a Man that for a mark of his Communication with God raises the Dead foretells things to come removes Mountains heals the Sick deserves to be believed and one is to be blamed if one refuses to do it unless he be contradicted by some other that works greater Miracles than him But is it not said God tempts us and so can he not tempt us by Miracles that seem to lead us to Error There is a great deal of difference betwixt tempting and leading into Error God tempts but he does not lead into Error Tempt is to give occasions as do not impose a Necessity Lead into Error is to put a Man into the necessity to approve and embrace an Untruth This God cannot do yet 't is what he would do if he suffered that in a doubtful question he would permit Miracles to be wrought in favour of Error It ought be concluded from hence that 't is impossible that a Man concealing his ill Doctrine and discovering only that which is good and saying he is conformable to God and the Church should do Miracles insensibly to insinuate a subtil and false Doctrine this cannot be much less that God who knows the Heart should do Miracles in behalf of such a Person as this 8. * There 's a great deal of difference in being for Jesus Christ and saying so or of not being for Jesus Christ and faining to be so the former it may be may work Miracles not the others for 't is evident the one act against the Truth not the others and so the Miracles are the clearer Miracles then do distinguish in doubtful Cases betwixt the Jewish People and the Gentiles Jews and Christians Catholicks and Hereticks Calumniators and Calumnised betwixt the three Crosses It is what has been seen in all the Contests of Truth with Error of Abel against Cain of Moses against Pharaoh's Magitians of Elias against the false Prophets of Jesus Christ against the Pharisees of St. Paul against Barjesus of the Apostles against the Exorcists of Christians against Infidels of Catholicks against Hereticks It is also what will be seen in the Combat betwixt Ely and Enoch against Antichrist The true do always work the greater Miracles It never happen'd in disputing for the true God and the true Religion but that if any Miracle was wrought for Error but that there was also greater Miracles wrought in behalf of Truth By this Rule it is Evident the Jews were obliged to believe Jesus Christ Jesus Christ was suspected by them but his Miracles were infinitely clearer than the suspitions they could have of him they ought then to have believed him 9. * In the days of Jesus Christ some believed in him others did not because of the Prophesies that said the Messias was to be born in Bethlehem whereas it was believ'd Jesus Christ was born in Nazareth But they should have taken better heed if he were not born in Bethlehem For his Miracles being convincing these pretended contradictions of his Doctrine against the Scripture and this obscurity did not excuse but blind them 10. * Jesus Christ gave sight to him that was born blind and did many Miracles on the Sabbath-day whereby he blinded the Pharisees who said that Miracles was to be judged by the Doctrine But by the same Rule that one ought to believe Jesus Christ one should not believe Antichrist Jesus Christ spoke neither against God nor against Moses Antichrist and the false Prophets foretold in both Testaments shall speak openly against God and against Jesus Christ he that is a secret Enemy God will not permit to work Miracles openly 11. * Moses Prophesi'd of Jesus Christ and commanded to hear him Jesus Christ foretold of Antichrist and forbid to follow him 12. * The Miracles of Jesus Christ are not foretold by Antichrist but the Miracles of Antichrist are foretold by Jesus Christ And so if Jesus Christ had not been the Messias he would have led into Error but one cannot with Reason be led into it by the Miracles of Antichrist Therefore it is the Miracles of Antichrist do no harm to those of Jesus Christ So that when Jesus Christ foretold the Miracles of Antichrist did he believe that he hinder'd the credit of his own Miracles 13. * There is no Reason for believing Antichrist but there is to believe Jesus Christ but there are Reasons for believing in Jesus Christ that there are not for believing Antichrist 14. * Miracles serv'd for a Foundation and shall serve for the continuation of the Church until the coming of Antichrist yea even to the end Therefore God to the end to continue this Proof to his Church he either confounded false Miracles or he foretold them and both by one and the other he rais'd himself above what is supernatural as to us and has even lifted us up also It will happen so hereafter either God will not suffer false Miracles or he will work greater For Miracles have such a force that there was a necessity God should give warning heed should not be given to them when they were against him how clear soever it be there is a God else they would have caused a suspition Insomuch that those Passages in the 13 th Chapter of Deuteronomy that forbid to hear or believe those that work Miracles and such as shall turn away from serving God and that of St. Mark 13. 21. There shall arise false Christs and false Prophets that will work Signs and great Wonders even to deceive the very Elect if it were possible and other like passages are so far from being against the Authority of Miracles that nothing more confirms them The cause we do not believe true Miracles is want of Charity You believe not saith Jesus Christ to the Jews because you are not my Sheep What makes Men believe false ones is want of Charity Eo quod charitatem veritatis non receperunt ut salvi fierent ideo mittet illis Deus operationem Erroris ut credant mendacio 16. * When I consider'd whence it is so much credit is given to so many Quacks that pretend they have infallible Remedies even so far as Men put their Lives into their Hands it seem'd to me the true cause is that there be true Remedies for it were impossible there should be so many false and that so much credit should be given to them if there were not true ones also If they never had any and that all Diseases were incurable it is impossible Men could believe they could give any and yet more unlike that so many should believe those that boasted that they had such Remedies But as there has been many Remedies that have been found good by the Experience of Wise Men Belief has got ground because the thing cannot be deny'd in the Main for there is particular
effects that are true the Common People that can't distinguish which amongst these particular effects are true do believe them all in like manner what occasions to believe so many false effects of the Moon is that there are some true as the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea. So also it appears to me as evidently that there are not so many false Miracles false Revelations Sorceries c. but because there are true also nor so many false Religions but because there is one True for if there never had been any thing of all this it 's impossible Men could ever have imagin'd it and much less that so many others should have believed it But as there has been very great things true and thereby have been believed by great Men this impression has been the cause that almost all the World are become even ready to believe also false things And so instead of concluding that there are no true Miracles because there be false ones it should be said on the contrary that there are true Miracles because there be so many false ones and that there are no false ones but by this Reason because there are true ones and in like manner that there are no false Religions but because there is a True one this proceeds from the Mind of Man being inclin'd that way by the Truth becomes thereby more pliable to receive Error 17. * It is said Believe the Church but 't is not said Believe Miracles because the latter is Natural and not the former the one had need of a Precept not the other 18. * There are so few Persons to whom God appears by these extraordinary ways that one should make good use of such occasions because it proceeds not from Nature that hides it but to excite our Faith to serve him with so much the more Zeal as we know him with greater certainty If God did continually discover himself to Men it would be no thanks to believe and if he never discover'd himself there would be but little Faith but he commonly hides himself and discovers himself but seldom to those whom he would ingage in his Service This strange secrecy wherein God keeps himself unseen to the Eyes of Men should teach us sometimes to retire our selves also from the sight of Men the better to contemplate his Majesty He remain'd hid under the Veil of Nature that hid him from us till the Incarnation and when 't was requisite he should appear he hid himself yet more in covering himself with his Humanity he was much easier known when he was invisible than when he became visible And at last when he would accomplish the Promise he made to his Apostles to remain with Men till his last coming he chose to abide with them in the strangest and obscurest manner could be to wit under the Species of the Eucharist It is this Sacrament St. John in the Revelation calls the hidden Manna and I believe the Prophet Esay saw him in this manner when he said Truly thou art a God that hidest thy self this is the greatest secresie he can be in The Veil of Nature was search'd into by many Heathens who as St. Paul saith Confessed the invisible God by visible Nature Many Christian Hereticks knew him through his Humanity and Adored Jesus Christ God and Man But as for us we should think our selves happy in that God would enlighten us so far as to know him under the Species of Bread and Wine Unto these Considerations may be added the Mystery of the Spirit of God also hidden in the Holy Scriptures for there are two perfect Senses the mystical and the litteral and the Jews held to the one not so much as thinking there was another and never thought of troubling themselves to find it So also wicked Persons seeing natural effects attribute them to Nature never thinking there is another Author of them The Jews seeing a perfect Man in Christ Jesus never thought of seeking another Nature in him We did not think it was him saith Esay So also Hereticks seeing the perfect appearance of Bread in the Eucharist think not of seeking any other Substance There is a Mystery hid under every thing every thing is a Veil that covers God Christians should acknowledg him in all things Temporal Afflictions cover Eternal Rewards whereunto they lead us Temporal Pleasures cover Eternal Pains which they do occasion Let us Pray to God that he would make us know and serve him in all and for all things and let us give him Infinite Thanks that having hid himself in so many things to others he has manifested himself in so many things and in so many sundry ways to us §. XXVIII Christian Reflections 1. THe wicked which suffer themselves blindly to be led along by their Passions without knowing God or taking any care to seek him do by themselves verifie the Fundamental Faith that they oppose which is That the Nature of Man is in a State of Corruption And the Jews which so obstinately oppose the Christian Religion do also confirm this other Foundation of the Faith they oppose which is That Jesus Christ is the true Messias and that he is come to Redeem Men and free them from the Corruption and Misery wherein they were as well by the State wherein they are at this time and which is found to be foretold by Prophesies as by the very Prophesies themselves which they precisely keep and preserve as undoubted Marks by which the Messias should be distinguish'd and known So that the Corruption of Man and the Redemption of Jesus Christ which are the two chief Truths that establish Christianity is drawn from the prophane who live in an indifferency of Religion and of the Jews who are irreconcileable Enemies to it 2. * The Dignity of Man in his Innocence consisted in his using and bearing rule over the Creatures but now it consists in withdrawing himself and keeping himself humble and low in Heart 3. * Many do Err and so much the more dangerously that they take a Truth to be the Principle of their Error their fault is not in believing an Error but in following one Truth by excluding of another 4. * There are a great many Truths both Moral and Divine which seem repugnant and contrary and nevertheless subsist in an admirable order The cause of all Heresies is the exclusion of some of these Truths And the Spring of all the Objections made against us by Hereticks is the not knowing some of our Truths And for the most part it happens that not apprehending the relation there may be betwixt two opposite Truths thinking owning one of them excludes the other they hold to the one and exclude the other The Nestorians would needs have two Persons in Jesus Christ because there was two Natures in him and the Eutychians on the contrary taught there was but one Nature because there was but one Person The Catholicks are Orthodox because they joyn both Truths together of
that so being fill'd with thee it might no longer be I that do live and suffer but that it might be thou that dost live and suffer in me O my Blessed Redeemer and that so having some little part of thy Sufferings thou mayest fill me intirely with the Glory they brought thee unto in which thou livest with the Father and the Holy Ghost World without End. Amen Amen FINIS A DISCOURSE Upon Monsieur PASCALL'S THOUGHTS Wherein is endeavour'd to shew the Scope of his Design As also another DISCOURSE On the PROOFS of the Five Books of MOSES As also a TREATISE Wherein is shew'd that there are DEMONSRATIONS of another kind and that such may be given for the Christian Religion London Printed for Jacob Tonson at the Judge's Head in Chancery-lane near Fleet-street 1688. ADVERTISEMENT THis Discourse was intended for a Preface to the Collection of Monsieur Pascall's Thoughts but it was not made use of to that purpose it being too long and 't was very fit it should give place to that prefixt to his Book were it for nothing else but that no Foreign Matter should be mixt with Monsieur Pascall's Thoughts and that nothing should be join'd to it but what proceeded from the same Family and the same Spirit But since it being suppos'd this Discourse might not be wholly useless to shew near-hand what was Monsieur Pascall's Drift it was thought fit to Publish it the Design being so weighty and important that 't was thought convenient not to neglect any thing how small soever it appeared that had any relation to his Works It is for this same Reason that to this Discourse there is added another proving the Truth of the Books of Moses which was not intended to have seen the Light no more than the Treatise wherein is made appear there are Demonstrations of another kind and as certain as those of Geometry and that such may be given for the Christian Religion What ever success either of them find would be accounted a great Happiness if God who makes the meanest things advance his greatest Design so that any Person whatever may reap profit thereby TO THE HONOURABLE SIR John Hewet BARONET Honoured Sir WHen a Man is upon taking a long Journey he prepares himself accordingly and Emploies what time he has to spare in settling his most Important Affairs Daily Experience shews the uncertainty of Life the World is but a Passage how many do we see come to their Journeys End by the Sword Sicknesses and a Thousand sorts of Accidents In the Graâ—e there is neither Action nor Invention therefore what I find requisite to be done I love to do it with all my Might The Body with the Sensitive part relating to it shall be gone hence and be seen no more till the general Audit and who can tell how soon But the Will the Memory the Intellective part of Man shall never Die it shall to all Eternity be Happy or Miserable by looking back on what it Acted in the Inch of Time was lent in this World. Next to my acknowledgment to God for making me in his own Likeness and for restoring his lost Image in me by his Blessed Son I endeavour and desire to shew my Gratitude to all my Worthy Friends and Benefactors for their kindnesses to me And amongst them I should think my self guilty of a Crime punishable by the Judges not to own the great Obligations I have to Sir John Hewet in particular It is not yet twice Seven years since my Honour'd Friend your good Father of his own Inclination was the Instrumental Cause of settling me in a Publick Imployment in His Majesties Service where amongst many other Pleasures and Benefits I enjoy'd I design'd to Translate the History of the Eucharist into English and in order thereunto I had writ and perfected near one Fourth part of it But that Work and Subject was of too great Weight and Purity to be handled by a Publican therefore God who sees not as Mansees was pleas'd to call me from the Receipt of Custom and whâ—n at a convenient time and place of Retiremen◠〈◊〉 thought to have reassâ—m'd my Business seeking the Papers I thought I had in advance by me by some Accident or other they miscarry'd so that not finding them I was struck into such a damp that I had Thoughts of wholly quitting my Design about that Book God was not pleas'â— any part of the Old Materials should serve in the Building he would have it all of a new Lump so I set my self a work De novo and with Gods Blessing and Assistance accomplish'd my desire as well for my own satisfaction as to gratifie my Friends I have liv'd a good while in the World and have concern'd my self but with few Persons nor Businesses nor do I much desire it I desire as Dr. Donn did to swim like a Fish quietly to my Long Home Those Providence has directed me unto are of the best sort and Curious enough as some very well know What is within the compass of my little Power to do or give or say I do it with a great deal of Fidelity and Chearfulness If I have not succeeded in some things Almighty God has abundantly heard me in others that it may be are more Expedient You are pleas'd to tread your Fathers Steps in making me participate of your Favours at Waresly at Cambridge and in London I freely own the great Honour and Respect I bear to your self and your Noble Family and being desirous to make what slender Retaliation I am able for all your Favours I draw out a Detachment from Monsieur Pascall's Book for which the Generous Mr. Boyle will excuse me and commit it to your Patronage and Conduct being assured Sir John Hewet and his Friends in and about Cambridge c. know very well how to Exerâ—â—se and Improve it to the best advantage Amongst some other Remarks of this present Year 1687. I have had the Pleasure to observe the Concurrence of certain Planets that have their Course East and West and concenter'd at the same Epoche a Phaenomena no less Rare than Propitious to some Illustrious Families I do not see but the like or greater Felicities aboad them in this next ensuing Year 1688. In these Lines you see scatter'd at least some of my Thoughts and hearty Wishes If I fall short of Rendering you any Real Services I will not do so in constantly owning to all the World that with all Integrity I desire to be lookt upon as Honoured Sir Your most Obedient Affectionate and Humble Servant JOS. WALKER A DISCOURSE ON Monsieur PASCALL'S Thoughts and Meditations Done from the French by J. W. WHAT has hitherto been seen of Monsieur Pascall's has given so great a Testimony of the Profoundness of his Judgment that 't is not to be thought strange knowing he had a deâ—ign to write of the Truth of Religion that many with impatience desir'd to know what was found in his Papers after his
Death His Friends on their part were no less desirous to make his Works publick and knowing better the value of what remain'd of his than those who only judged of it by conjecture there 's no question to be made but they found themselves obliged to pay this last Testimony of kindness to a Person whose Memory was so dear to them and to communicate to the World a thing which they with great reason believ'd would be of so great use to all Orders of Men. For although Monsieur Paseall had as yet writ nothing on this Subject but some indigested Thoughts which might afterwards have found place in the Work which he designed but would have made but a very small part and would have given but a slender account of it nevertheless it may be truly said that nothing has appear'd comparable to it on this Subject However it cannot well be judged in what manner these precious Remains of this great Man will be entertain'd in the World a great many Persons doubtless will be disatisfied in finding so little order in it in that every thing seems so indigested and that there be many Thoughts that have no dependance nor connection one to another nor is it easie to see whereto they tend But let such consider that what Monsieur Pascall had undertaken were not such things as may be said to be finish'd as soon as taken in hand neither were they common ordinary things which are as good one way as another there was a great distance betwixt the Project and the finishing of it It was to be a Composition of several Pieces of different Natures wherein the World was to be reform'd of sundry Errors and also to be inform'd of a great many Truths To conclude it was design'd therein to Treat of all things and to speak Reasonably which but very few have yet done for indeed all things conduce to Religion or all things divert from it and as it is the greatest of all Gods designs or rather the Center of his good Pleasure and that he has done all things for Jesus Christ there is nothing in the World but doth referr to him all things living or inanimate all things agitated in the Thought or Actions of Men are the Consequences of Sin or the Effects of Grace and that wherein God's chief scope is to enlighten our Darkness or to increase them when we love them So that every thing might have found room in Monsieur Pascall's Book and how much Wisdom soever he had he might have employ'd his whole Life in the sole Collecting of so much Matter and yet have omitted speaking of many things Can it then be thought strange that having therein spent only the last Four or Five Years of his Life and that with many lets and impediments too that after his Decease there was found only a little Parcel of imperfect Materials Moreover a great many Persons fansy'd to themselves before-hand what this Work should be and imagin'd he ought to have set about Composing it after the same manner as they would have done themselves it is most certain they are therein mightily mistaken Those that find nothing convincing without Geometrical Demonstrations expect also Proofs of the Existence of God and of the Immortality of the Soul which may lead them from one Principle to another as their Demonstrations do Others require those common Reasons that prove but very little or which only satisfie those that are already perswaded Others desire Metaphysical Reasons which for the most part are only refin'd Notions that are not capable of making any great impression on the Understanding and whereof 't is always suspicious To conclude there be others that look for nothing but for that which is called common Places and I can't tell what kind of Eloquence and sound of Words void of Truth which only dazle the Sight and never reach the Heart It is most certain none of all these shall find what they seek after in these Fragments but 't is also as sure they would therein find their desire were they not deceiv'd with false Notions of what they look for All that is contain'd therein is full of the Works of an unparallell'd Eloquence and of that Eloquence which proceeds from the lively Sense of things and also of a profound Wisdom and that never fails to move and produce some Effect There are seen Metaphysical Proofs as full and convincing as can be given on this Matter and also Demonstrations for those that understand them grounded on as undeniable Principles as those of Geometry can be But the mischief of all is That these Principles referr more to the Heart than to the Understanding and Men are so little accustom'd to study their Heart that there is nothing they know less than it It is very seldom or never that their Meditation tends thither and although they do nothing all their Life and in all things but follow the Motions of their Heart it is but as blind Men do who suffer themselves to be led along without seeing who leads them or knowing what does lie in their way It is not therefore strange that they should be insensible of the Light God has given them if they never turn their Eyes towards it and that they rest satisfi'd with things that hinder them from seeing it And if there be any found that apply themselves to the study of the Heart of Man can they boast of searching it to the bottom and penetrate the Abiss of Prejudices false Sentiments and Passions wherein this little Light is almost extinguish'd The Truth is there is not so much need of proving the Existence of God as there is to make him be felt This latter is the most necessary as also the most safe and to know him he must be sought in the Sentiments which yet subsist in us and that we have still remaining of our first Nature for if God has left Tokens and Marks of himself in all his Works as it can no way be doubted we shall sooner find them in our selves than in exteriour things that don't speak to us and of which we have only a slight superficial Knowledge being not able to know the Ground and Nature of them And if it be inconceivable that he has not imprinted in his Creatures what they owe to him for the Being he has given them it will be much more probable Man shall find this important Lesson in his Heart than in inanimate things which fulfil the Will of God without knowing it and for whom their very Being differs but little from nothing It is then so little to be wonder'd at that God may be found this way that 't is one of the greatest Wonders in the World that we should not find him and it must be only the like Confusion Sin made in Man at his first Creation that can deprive one of the Sense of this Presence of God which his Immensity makes to be every where Nevertheless let him not be dejected this
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
the Resurrection of Jesus Christ Who were they that they should make themselves be believed And what Authority did their Merit or the Power they held amongst the Jews give them to that purpose Could they invent nothing else but such a gross Lye which would have been so easie to have been gain-said and for the which they could have given no other Proof but their own bare Allegation And how can any one imagin they should have been so bold upon such a ground to Attack all the Authority that was amongst the Jews and the greatest powers on Earth and attempt to change a Religion that was as Old as the very World and grounded on as many Miracles which were as publick as this would have been deemed private to them 't was not enough they should be Cheats to form such a strange design they must also have lost their Senses and so the Fraud would soon have been discover'd And if they had been the Wisest Men in the World as they since appear'd to be they would but the better have seen what there was to be fear'd how difficult it would be considering Mens Lightness and Inconstancy but that some of them would suffer themselves to be gain'd by Promises or Threats And to conclude It were the greatest Extravagance for Pleasure to expose themselves to the greatest Dangers and Torments and to unavoidable Death whether the Fraud were discover'd or whether it succeeded to their desire I will not now ingage in speaking any farther of what might be offer'd touching the the Truth of the Evangelical History whereupon Monsieur Pascall has left such fine Remarks but such as are far short of what he would have done had he liv'd a little longer he had a particular Gift of Understanding Prophecies and found the New Testament such an inexhaustible Spring that he would still therein have made new discoveries What would he not have said of the Stile of the Evangelists and of their Persons of the Apostles in particular and of their Writings of the way whereby this Religion was first Establish'd and of the State 't is now in of the great Numbers of Miracles Martyrs and Saints in all Ages And in fine of so many things as show 't is impossible only to be the Work of meer Man Were I as capable as I am deficient to supply wherein he fell short this is not the place to do it That would be to compleat the Work which he only began to describe But though I have done it imperfectly and how ill soever we have it it seems to shew a Glimpse of what it was design'd to be and is even sufficient to produce the Effect he desir'd in the Minds of those that desire to make a right improvement of their Reason For he pretended not to work Faith in Men nor to change their Hearts his drift was to prove there was no Truth better supported in the World than that of the Christian Religion and that those who are so wretched as to doubt of it are apparently guilty of wilful blindness and can complain of none but themselves And 't is what will evidently appear to whomsoever will consider the thing at large as he did and all at once without Passion or Prejudice observe the long Succession and Train of Prophecies and Miracles that relate to it This so continu'd a History is the ancientest that is to be found in the World and is chiefly what is contain'd in this Treatise I say it must be Read without Prejudice for one must decline one part to which we must willingly renounce if one do themselves right that is not to believe but what one sees without any difficulty for if we were not warn'd by God himself of this mixture of Darkness and Light we are so made as that it ought not at all to hinder us There is no doubt but all Truths are Eternal that they are link'd in a Chain and have dependance one on another and this dependance is not only for Natural and Moral Truths but also for Truths of fact which may in some sort be called Eternal because being assign'd to certain Points of Eternity and Space they make a Body that all at once subsists for God. So that if Men had not their Understanding bounded and full of Darkness and that they could plainly discover the large Continent of Truth and that 't were expos'd to their view like a Country in a Geographical Map they would be in the right not to believe any thing but what was extreamly evident and for which they may see the Grounds and Consequences But seeing God has not been pleas'd to deal so favourably with them and that he was not thereto oblig'd they must comply with their State and the Necessity of things and must at least act Reasonably within the extent of their limitted Understanding without reducing themselves to Extremities and so make themselves Miserable and Ridiculous both together Could they but once bring themselves to this very far from resisting as they often do the bright Light that certain connections cast in their Minds they would easily own they ought to content themselves in all things with any moderate Beam of Light that appears to them provided it be a true Light that the convincing Proofs be Real and Positive and the Difficulties but bare Negations occasioned by the want of a full view of things and as there are other Proofs that leave no Obscurity so there are also those that give Light sufficient to shew something after which whatever doubt remains it cannot hinder but that what one sees is certain and 't is no longer but the weakness of him that instructs and cannot make every thing clear or of him that would see and has not sufficient Light of Knowledge For to conclude there are an infinite number of things that yet do subsist though they are incomprehensible to us and 't would be Ridiculous for Instance to dispute against Demonstrations because they may have Consequences the connection whereof may not appear very plain to us Were there nothing incomprehensible but in Religion probably there were something to be said but what is most known in Nature is that almost all we know that subsists is unknown to us past certain Bounds although we have them as 't were before our Eyes and in our Hands whereas Religion has this advantage that what we don't comprehend is found to be grounded on the Nature of God and upon his Justice of which he knows very well that we can know nothing but what he is pleas'd to reveal to us Let us then rest satisfi'd and Bless his Name for having shew'd us sufficient to guide us in safety And those that are displeas'd at our Submission to things that can't be comprehended know their unreasonableness seeing one desires it not of them till after having shewed an infinite Number of Proofs that one must be wholly depriv'd of Reason not to submit to it For can there be any so bold
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
Opinion they had of believing it to be Divine and Writ by Moses Moreover that these Miracles were of a very surprizing Nature being mention'd throughout the whole Book repeated in sundry places and involv'd in the Principal Events there would have been need to have made a new Book to have adjusted them and not barely to have alter'd one that had been received before We must therefore again return to this pretended Glory of the Nation and maintain that the Jews willingly sufferr'd this falsification and that they were even glad that all these Miracles were added to their Law and that the Story of them was written This might have some colour were the Question only of matter of Policy It might be well said to the Romans for Example that they descended from Aeneas and it may be the French will suffer it should be said they sprang from the Trojans These are things some People fansy might be and that no body is concern'd to oppose them and which do not thwart other things that have been a long while establish'd and are regarded as the most Considerable But as for the Jews those People so Zealous of their Religion so Faithful in their smallest Traditions and to whom Lying was so severely forbidden this Supposition is wholly unlikely and improbable For I do not believe that the boldness of denial can go so far as to deny all the Proofs of the Zeal the Jews had for their Religion seeing that even at this day they have so great a Veneration for their Law that for above Sixteen hundred years that they are dispers'd and that they see no Effect of what was promis'd them they still observe it with the same exactness as they did almost at first and still wait for the fulfilling of those Promises What appearance is there then that they would have sufferr'd those Books they look'd upon as the very Word of God to be stuft with such a horrible Number of Lyes in making themselves thereby unworthy his Protection and running the danger of being Convicted of Fraud by all their Neighbours Was not this to hazard losing all to gain nothing There needs no more than this to convince any Man of good Sense and Judgment But if one would further insist on the Love of the Jews for their Nation and pretend that the desire of making themselves be admir'd could induce them to commit this Fraud let us see if the quite contrary will not appear and if there be the least likelihood they could believe to be the more consider'd by the things related in this Book which appear so disgraceful to the Nation in general and if all things had been in favour of the Publick let us see if it be likely that private Persons and whole Families would therein willingly have sacrific'd themselves seeing especially nothing constrain'd them and that needing only to invent it was at their free Liberty to choose what way they pleas'd and to have sav'd every body without stirring up any to discover their Fraud Had he said nothing but what would have been for their Honour as those great Miracles that shew such a particular Protection of God over them had not that been sufficient without inventing so many things wherein so many People were concern'd to oppose them and others also that render that Nation so worthy of disgrace What is there for Example more wretched than the fear and murmuring of that People for the bitterness of the Waters and the want of Provisions and for the Thirst they sufferr'd at Riphidim They were scarce any sooner got out of Aegypt but they forgot all they would have the World think God did for them They think they are forsaken and betray'd saying That they had been brought out of a Country where they liv'd at their ease though they were Slaves in it that they should die in the Wilderness they doubt either of the power or protection of that God that had so wonderfully appear'd for them and are ready to Rebel against the Man that they believ'd was chosen of God to deliver them Is it not the greatest and shamefullest weakness that can be Is it not the height of Ingratitude both towards God and their Conductor What could their greatest Enemies have invented more shameful to them And who can imagin that to make them considerable to the World and be thought the People beloved of God they should have dreamt to display themselves so inconstant unfaithful and ignorant that for Fourty years that they said they were fed with Food come down from Heaven there scarce past a day but they were heard cry like Children and wish'd with Tears in their Eyes they were still Slaves in Aegypt that they might have their fill of Leeks and Onions One must Transcribe the whole Book of Moses to write all the Infidelities and Errors of this People for there is scarce any thing else to be seen in it They seem to have study'd to equal their Crimes with the Blessings God bestow'd on them There was scarce any one thing in which they Rebell'd not against their Leader and they were scarce free from one Punishment but that they diserv'd another so that nothing could hinder that head-strong People from falling frequently into the same Crimes nor the Example of the 25000 that the Sons of Levy slew by the Command of Moses for their Sin of Idolatry nor that Fire that destroyed near 15000 for their Insurrection nor that greivous Plague of Fiery Serpents nor the great Punishment infflicted by Moses for their Sinning with the Daughters of the Midianites which cost the Lives of most of the Princes and of 24000 of the People But to say all in a Word what can be seen more strange and shameful to them than the general Apostacy they fell into when Moses was on the Mount Sinai and that those Rebels made Aaron make them a Golden Calf and sacrific'd to it as to their God Let all these Circumstances be well consider'd and it will be seen that a People that is capable to fall therein is at the same time guilty of all Vices at once and especially of Folly and Extravagance They say they were brought out of the Land of their Enemies by the greatest and strangest Miracles that could be so that there is not a step of their Life wherein the wonderful Power and Goodness of God is not express'd towards them this God forgives all their Murmurrings and all their Incredulities instead of punishing their Distursts he bestows on them Meat and Drink where there never was any before and fully satisfies the meanest and lowest of their Desires Nevertheless whilst they knew their Deliverer and their Conductor was on the Mount with the same God receiving Orders for their Conduct a sudden and ridiculous Fear siezes them they are troubled at Moses his stay and without knowing why or wherefore require of Aaron a God to march before them they force him to make a Golden Calf which they set on
retain the design of moving his Tongue and so he would not pronounce one Word if he stirr'd it to speak it would be only Words that he before had form'd in his Head and that being put together would signifie nothing because he would put them together though they signifi'd nothing and so would not make a Speech that had any Sense or if he would that their putting together should signifie any thing it could not be the Speech whereof he had no Notions see here a thing that consists only in Multiplications and yet whereto it is impossible chance should ever attain And what is Admirable is that this divers assembling of Letters that Composes a Speech of Cicero's extending to all Languages are incomparably in much greater Number than the Words of the French Tongue that the President spoke and that yet nevertheless it was not impossible but this Speech might be hit on and that it is evidently the same this Man found out But it is as has formerly been said that the Hand that ranges these Letters at hazard is it self in the Hands of Chance and that this Man that speaks is govern'd by a Will and a Mind that are not at all subject thereto hazard never making a Man act against his Will nor lifting him above his Understanding It may easily be shewn that the Wager that Rome is is of this Nature and that hazard has nothing to do with it For of all those that have said there is a City so call'd there is not one but have had a Mind to say so but knew what they did in saying so and that also had some End or other in saying it All which things have no dependance at all upon hazard And as it cannot be but amongst them there were great Numbers that knew this City was not if it had not been in Effect one must be out of their Senses to imagin that hazard should make them all have Reasons to chuse rather to stand in this Lye than to tell the Truth or that all should desire so to do without any Sense or Reason It is needless to urge this any farther it would but weaken its force to Dilate more upon it to those that do not comprehend it at first view But one may boldly affirm it is impossible but it should be felt as much as a first Principle and that if the Existence of the City of Rome be not demonstrable to those that have not been there it follows there are things not demonstrable which are more certain as may be said than Demonstrations themselves Christian Religion is undoubtedly of this kind and whosoever had Understanding Knowledge and Reading sufficient and would diligently apply himself thereunto would plainly and easily make it out For let one seriously think of so many great and wonderful things as have accur'd for these Six thousand years past in the view of all Men and whereof Foot-steps are to be seen throughout the whole World and the Antiquity of the History that contains what is known of greatest Antiquity in the same the Verity whereof has never been question'd by any Let us consider of the Reflections Nature may be induc'd to make upon the Events and Mysteries which are taught us by the Christian Religion the manner how things have past down to us of the Stile Uniformity and Education of those that have transmited the Holy Scriptures to us of the Profoundness of the Truths they above all other Writings have discover'd to us as well touching the Nature of the Divinity as that of the human Nature also concerning what relates to Vertues and Vices Let the infinite distance be consider'd which there is betwixt these Holy Persons Notions and their manner of Thinking Expressing and Acting from that of all other Men and you would think thâ—m to be quite another thing The original Perfection they so peculiarly enjoy'd shews that all that ever was spoke by Men that seem'd to savour good Sense is only a weak imitation of their Copy and also that the Spring of their Errors and Abjurations is only a gross depravation of their solid Works And the Means whereby all we believe is Establish'd has hitherto subsisted doth yet subsist and will in all likelihood subsist as long as the World indures To conclude let all that so many great Men have writ on this Subject be summ'd up and let what they omitted be added thereunto for that 's but just because the weakness of Man's Understanding not admitting him to see things but imperfectly the abundance of what he discovers does infallibly shew that which is yet wanting I say let them consider all this and seriously ponder it and it will be evident that such an Accumulation of Proofs may be shewn for the certainty of our Religion that there is no Demonstration could be more convincing and it would be as hard to doubt of it as of a Propo sition of Geometry if one had nothing else but the very light of Reason to direct us For although it may be in the strictness of Geometry one may not be able to shew that these Proofs severally are not indubitable nevertheless being put together they have such a force that they do more fully convince ones Reason than all that does that Geometricians call Demonstration and the Reason is because Proofs of Geometry do only for the most part impose a kind of silence without diffusing any Light in the Understanding nor shew the thing plainly whereas these do as one may say lay it open before ones Eyes and that because they are adapted to our Capacity and we comprehend them with more care and safety than we can Principles of Geometry whereto few Heads do reach insomuch as infallible as these Demonstrations seem to be Geometricians themselves are oftentimes puzzl'd and deceiv'd in them FINIS At Port Royal Des Champ. This Thorn is at Port Royal in Suburbs St. James 's at Paris See Monsieur Pascall 's Thoughts 1 Cor. 1. 25. Psal 118. 36. 1 Cor. 1. 25. 8. 16. 8. 14. Mat. 11. 6. 14. 10. Gen. 12. 3. Ibid. 22. 3. 8. Luk. 2. 32. Psal 127. 20. Joel 2. 28. Jer. 23. 7. Isa 15. 7. Jer. 31. 33. Ide 32 40. Isa 5. 2 3 4 c. Ide 65. 2. Deut. 28. 28 29. Ezek. 17. Ezek. 30. 3. 13. Mal. 1. 11. Mal. 3. 1. Isa 9. 6. Mich. 5. 2. Isa 6. 8 29. Isa 42. 55. Isa 53. Isa 28. 26. Isa 8. 14. Ibid. 15. Psal 117. Dan. 2. 35. Zach. 11. 12. Psal 68. 22. 21. 17 18 19. Oze 6. 3. Psal 110. Psal 2. 2. Isa 60. 10. Jer. 31. 36. Joh. 19. 15. Isa 8. 14. Deut. 19. 20. Isa 63. 16. Deut. 10. 17. Jer. 4. 4. Deut. 30. 6. Gen. 17. 11. Deut. 30. 19 20. Deut. 32. 20 21. Isa 65. Psas 72. Amos. 5. Isa 66. Jer. 6. 20. Mal. 1. 11. 1 King 15. Oze 6. 6. Jer 31. 31. Isa 43. Jer. 3. 16. Jer. 7. 12 13. Mal. 1. 10 11. Psal 109. Isa 56. Oze 3. Jer. 31. 16. Rom. 19. Isa 43. 15. Mat. 11. 27. Deut. 13. 2 3 and Mar. 9. 38. Joh. 15. 24. Joh. 3. 2. Isa 1. 18. Ibid. 5. 4. John. 10. 26. 2 Thes 2. 10 11. Apoc. 2. 17. Isa 45. 15. Isa 53 3. Prov. 8. Joel 2. Psal 81. Isa 40. Eccles 3. 18. Mat. 25. Jam. 5. 17. Rom. 2. John 4. 3. Ezekiel 1 Cor. 6. 17. Gen. 8. 21. Heb. 9. 14. Heb. 10. 5 7. Psal 39. 7 8 9. Luk. 24. 2. Heb. 5. 8. Ibid. Phil. 3. 20.