Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
duty_n	good_a	great_a	see_v	2,610	5	3.2126	3	true

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

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 La●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

Beasts and that have given us the Enjoyments of the Earth for our Portion Have they found a remedy for our Concupiscences Lift up your Eyes to God say some behold him whom you resemble and that has made you to adore him you may make your selves like him Wisdom will liken you to him if you will follow it others say bow down your Eyes to the Ground miserable Worms that you are and behold the Beasts whose Companions you are What then will become of Man Shall he be equal to God or to Beasts What a vast distance is this What will become of us What Religion is it will teach us the cure of Pride and Concupiscence What Religion will teach us our Happiness our Duties our Imperfections that hinder us from it the remedies that may cure us and the means to obtain those remedies Let us see what the Wisdom of God says to us on all this and speaks to us in the Christian Religion It is in vain O Man that thou seekest in thy self the remedy of thy Miseries all your knowledg will only reach to know that Truth and solid Good is not to be had in thy self Philosophers have indeed promis'd it but they could not perform it they did not know neither thy true Happiness nor thy true State how was it possible they should give a remedy of your Miseries seeing they never fully knew them your greatest evils are Pride which estranges you from God and Concupiscence which draws you after the World and they have always cherish'd at least one of these Evils If they propose God to you for your Object it was only to increase your Pride they made you think that by Nature you resembl'd him and those which have seen the Vanity of this pretension have flung you into the other Precipice in shewing you that your Nature was like that of Beasts and inclin'd you to seek your Happiness in Sensualities which is the Portion of brute Beasts These are not the means to inform you of your Transgressions expect not therefore neither Truth nor Consolation from Men I am he that form'd thee and that alone can shew thee what thou art but you are not now in the State I set you in I made Man Holy Innocent perfect I fill'd him with light and understanding I communicated my Glory and Majesty to him Man did then with his Eye behold the Glory of God he was not in darkness that blinds him nor in the Mortality and Miseries that surround him but he did not long enjoy that Glory but fell into presumption he would needs become his own Center and live without my support he withdrew himself from my Rule and equalling himself to me through a desire of finding a Felicity in himself I left him to himself and causing all the Creatures I had put under his Feet to revolt from him I made them become his Enemies so that now Man is become like to the Beasts and so far estrang'd from me that there is scarse any little light of his first Author to be found in him his Faculties are so much confus'd or so near extinguish'd his Sences either independent of his Reason or for the most part overcoming his Reason leads him away to the love of Pleasures all Creatures either tempt or afflict him and either sway him by prevailing over him by their force or charm him by their delights which is the more imperious and dangerous slavery of the two 2. * This is the State of Man at present there is as yet remaining in him some little glimering light of the Happiness of his first State but he is overwhelm'd in the Miseries of his ignorance which is become his Second Nature 3. * From these Principles which I briefly lay down you may easily discern the cause of so many vast contrarieties which have divided and astonish'd Men. 4. * Now take notice of the several desires of Greatness and Glory which the sense of so many Miseries cannot extinguish and see if the cause of this be not a second Nature 5. * Know then O proud Man what a Paradox thou art to thy self weak Reason humble thy self frail Nature be silent know that Man doth infinitely surpass Man and expect to understand thy true State from thy Maker which thou art utterly ignorant of 6. * For if Man had never been defil'd by Sin he should with safety have enjoy'd Truth and Happiness and had he been always corrupt he would never have had any Idea of Truth nor of Blessedness But wretched Creatures that we are and the rather as though there were no greatness in our Condition we have a desire after Happiness but cannot attain to it we feel a Notion of Truth and yet possess nothing but a Lye unable quite to be ignorant and cannot know certainly so sure it is we were in a State of Perfection from whence we are miserably fallen 7. * What is it then that this weakness and avidity intimates to us but that there was formerly in Man a real good and there now remains only the Foot-steps of it which he in vain strives to fill up with what he sees round about him seeking in things absent the succour he cannot find in those present and which neither the one nor the other is capable of affording him because this wide Gulf cannot be fill'd but by an Object which is infinite and unmoveable 8. * Nevertheless it is a thing very wonderful that the Mystery farthest off from our Knowledg which is that of the Transmission of Original Sin is such a thing that without it we cannot have a right knowledg of our selves for there is no doubt to be made nothing does more startle our Reason than to say the Sin of Adam doth make those to be guilty which seem to be uncapable of participating of it by reason of their great distance from the Fountain this infection seems not only to be impossible but it also seems to us to be unjust For what seems more contrary to the miserable Rules of our Justice than eternally to Damn an Infant that hath not the power to will for a Sin wherein it seems so little concern'd that 't was committed 6000 years before it had any Being certainly nothing seems more difficult to us than this Doctrine Nevertheless without this Mystery the most incomprehensible of all others we are incomprehensible to our selves the Mystery of our Condition is complicated in this Abyss so that Man is more inconceivable without this Mystery than this Mystery is unfathomable to Man. 9. * Original Sin is foolishness to Man it is granted to be so the want of Reason should not be urged in this Doctrine for it is not expected Reason should attain to it But this foolishness is wiser than the Wisdom of Men Quod stultam est Dei sapientius est hominibus for without this what would they say Man is his whole State depends of this invisible Point and how should he discover it by

made but that at least he knows that he is and that he loves something If he then sees something in the dark state wherein he is and finds something on Earth that deserves his Love If God be pleas'd to infuse into him some Beams of his Essence wherefore should it be thought strange that he should be made capable of knowing and loving him as he shall be pleas'd to communicate himself to him These kinds of reasoning therefore are very presumptuous though they seem to be grounded on a kind of Humility yet it is not sincere nor reasonable unless it makes us confess that not knowing of our selves what we are we cannot know it of any but God. §. V. The submission and use of Reason 1. THe farthest Reason can go is to confess that there are infinite numbers of things that are above it It is very weak if it proceeds not so far 2. * One must know to doubt where there 's cause to doubt assure where there is cause and submit when one ought who doth not these things don't understand the force of Reason There are many that do not observe these three Principles either they assure all as demonstrable in not rightly knowing what demonstration is or in doubting of all not knowing where to submit or in submitting to all not knowing where to judg 3. * If all be submitted to Reason our Religion would have nothing mysterious and supernatural in it if the Principles of Reason are violated our Religion would be absurd and Rediculous 4. * Reason saith St. Austin would never submit if it did not judg that there are certain occasions wherein it ought to submit It is therefore just it should submit when it judges that it ought to submit and that it should not submit when upon good grounds it ought not to submit but great care must be taken of not being deceiv'd 5. * Piety is very different from Superstition To advance Piety to Superstition you destroy it Hereticks charge us with superstitious submission it were to do what they charge us with if we requir'd this submission in things indifferent There is nothing so conformable to Reason as to lay aside Reason in matters of Faith and nothing more contrary to Reason than the disusing of Reason in things that do not concern Faith These are two extreams alike dangerous to exclude Reason and to admit nothing but Reason 6. * Faith teaches things which Sense doth not but never nothing contrary to it it is above but not contrary to Reason §. VI. Faith without Reasoning IF we see a Miracle say some Men we would be converted They would not speak in this manner did they know what Conversion means They think there is no more in it but to believe there is a God and that to Worship him consists only in certain Forms of Words much like those the Gentiles used to their Idols True Conversion consists in humbling our selves before that Soveraign Majesty we have so often provok'd and who might justly every Minute destroy us to confess that we can do nothing without him and that we have deserv'd nothing but his displeasure it consists in acknowledging that there is a great enmity betwixt God and us and that without a Mediator we could have had no access nor favour Do not think it strange to see common People believe without Reasoning God works in them a love of Holiness and a hatred of themselves he inclines their heart to believe One shall never believe with a true saving Faith unless God inclines the Heart and as soon as he inclines it one shall believe And it is what the Prophet David knew very well when he said Inclina cor meum Deus in testimonia tua Those that believe without having examin'd the Proofs of Religion it is because they have an inward Holy Disposition and that what they hear said of our Religion is wholly conformable to it They feel that God has made them they will love none but him they will hate none but themselves they find their own weakness and that they are unable to go to God and that if God don't vouchsafe to come to them they can have no Communion with him and they find it is said in our Religion that we must love God and hate our selves but being wholly depraved and uncapable of coming to God God became Man to unite himself to us There needs nothing more to perswade Men who have this Disposition in their Heart together with this knowledg of their incapacity and Duty Those whom we see to be Christians without the knowledg of Prophesies and Proofs do nevertheless judg as well as those that have this Knowledg they judge by the heart as the others do by the understanding It is God himself that inclines them to believe and therefore they are very effectually perswaded I grant that one of these Christians that believes without knowing the Proofs may not it may be know so well how to convince an Infidel who may say so much of himself But those that understand the Proofs of Religion can easily prove that a believer is truly inspired of God although he cannot tell how to do it himself §. VII That it is more advantageous to believe than not believe what is taught by the Christian Religion Advertisement MOst of what is contained in this Chapter concerns only certain Persons who not being satisfy'd with the Proofs of Religion and much less with the Reasons of Atheists remain in suspense betwixt Faith and Infidelity the Author pretends only to shew by their own Principles and the light of Natural Reason that they should judg it is their Intrest to believe and that 't were their wisest course so to do did this choice depend of their own Will. Whence it follows that till they have found means to convince them of the Truth they should do what may most tend that way and avoid all those Courses which hinder them from getting true Faith which are principally Passions and vain Amusements 1. UNity joyn'd to Infinity adds nothing to it no more than a Foot does to an infinite Measure the Finite disappears in presence of the infinite and becomes nothing so doth our Wisdom in the sight of God and our Righteousness before the Divine Holiness There is not so great a disproportion betwixt Unity and Infinity as there is betwixt our Righteousness and that of God. 2. * We know there is an Infinite Being but are ignorant of his Nature as for Example we know it is false that Numbers are Finite then it is true there is an Infinity in Number but we know not what it is It is false that 't is even it is false that 't is odd for in adding the Unity it changes not Nature So we may plainly see there is a God and not know what he is and you ought not conclude there is no God because we do not perfectly know his Nature To convince you of his existence I