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
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
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
continued learning Greek and Latin and besides this before and after Meals my Father discoursed him sometimes of Logick sometimes of Physick and other Parts of Philosophy and this is all that he was taught having never had any other Tutor nor having been sent to any College One may imagine what pleasure my Father took in the progress my Brother made in the Sciences but he was not aware that the great and constant Study of so tender an Age might prove prejudicial to his health and in truth it appear'd to diminish very much as soon as he was 18. years old But as the pains he felt then were not yet grown very strong they hinder'd him not from proceeding in his usual Exercises so that 't was at that time and in his 19th year that he invented that System of Arithmitick whereby one not only cast up all sorts of Accounts without Pen Ink or Counters but 't is done also without knowledge of any Rules of Arithmitick and infallibly certain This Work was lookt upon as a new thing in Nature to have reduced a Science that consists wholly in the Understanding into a System and to have found out the means of making all the Operations of it with an absolute certainty without the help of Reasoning This work weakned him very much not for the invention or labour which he soon found out but for making the Workmen understand all things relating to it so that he was two years in putting it in the condition 't is in at present So that this weariness and the inconstancy of his health some years past cast him into inconveniences that never left him so that he sometimes told us that ever since he was 18. years old he never was one day without pain however these Pains not being always alike grievous as soon as he felt any mitigation his Mind was carry'd to the search of some new Matter It was at that time and in his 23. year that having seen Toricelli's Experiment he afterwards invented and performed the other Experiences that are called the Experiments That of Vacuity that proved so clearly that all the Effects that till then were attributed to the horrour of Vacuity are caused by the heaviness of the Air this work was the last that he imployed his Thoughts about in human Sciences and though he invented the Roulette afterwards that does not hinder the Truth of what I say for he discover'd it unawares and in such a way as shews clearly that he study'd not much after it as I shall shew in its place Presently after this Experiment being not yet 24. years of Age the Providence of God having given an occasion that obliged him to read Works of Piety God was pleased so to enlighten him by this means that he perceived plainly that Christian Religion obliged us to live only to God and that he should be our chief Object and this Truth appeared so evident so necessary and so profitable to him that it put an end to all his human Studies and from thenceforth he laid aside all other Sciences to apply himself solely to that one thing which Jesus Christ calls necessary He had been to that time by the special Providence of God preserv'd from the Vices of Youth and which is most of all to be admir'd that notwithstanding his great Wit and the Reputation he had gain'd yet he never was given to any Extravagancy about matters that concern'd Religion having still confin'd his Curiosity about things Natural he told me several times that he was obliged to my Father for this as well as for other things who being very Religiously disposed himself had infus'd it into him from his Infancy giving him these Maxims That whatever is the Object of Faith cannot be of Reason and much less can it be subject to Reason These Maxims being often reiterated to him by a Father for whom he had so high an esteem and in whom he found much Learning as also a clear and strong way of Reasoning all which made such a deep impression on his Mind that whatever Discourse he heard made by prophane Persons he was no way moved by it and though he was very young he looked upon them as Persons that held this wrong Principle That human Reason is above all things and that they knew not the Nature of Faith and so this Soul so Great so Vast and so fullof Curiosity that sought with so much exactness the Causes and Reason of all things did at the same time submit unto all things in Religion like a little Child and this humility reigned in him to his Death so that since the time that he resolved not to follow any other Study but that of Religion he never medled about the intricate questions of Divinity but apply'd his whole mind to know and practise the perfection of Christian Morality whereunto he devoted all the Talents God had bestowed upon him doing nothing the whole remainder of his Life but to meditate on the Law of God both day and night And though he had not made it his business particularly to study School Divinity yet was he not ignorant of the Decisions of the Church against the Heresies that were invented by the subtlety of Mens Wits and it was against such that he had no little antipathy and God was pleas'd about that time to give him an occasion to shew the Zeal he had for Religion He was at Roüen where my Father was imploy'd about the Kings Affairs at which time there chanc'd to be a Man that taught a new Philosophy which drew many to hear him out of Curiosity My Brother being importun'd to go hear him by two young Gentlemen of his Acquaintance went along with them but they were much surpriz'd in the Discourse they had with this Doctor for in relating to them the Pinciples of his Philosophy he drew Consequences on matters of Faith that were contrary to the Doctrines of the Church He proved by his Arguments that the Body of Jesus Christ was not made of the Blood of the Virgin Mary but of some other matter made on purpose and sundry other things to the same effect They would have oppos'd him but he continu'd obstinate in his Opinion So that having amongst themselves consider'd the danger there was that such a Man should be suffered to infuse his Erroneous Principles into his Pupils they resolved first to give him warning and if he continu'd obstinate then to make it known to his Superiors It happened even so for he slighted their advice so that they thought it their Duty to make the business known to Monsieur Du Bellay who then managed the Episcopal Affairs in the Diocess of Roüen by Commission of the Archbishop Monsieur Du Bellay cited this Man before him and being examin'd he was deluded by an Equivocal Confession of Faith which he deliver'd under his hand and besides was not much concern'd at an information of this importance given against him by three young Men. Nevertheless when
they saw this Confession of Faith they discover'd the defect of it which obliged them to go to Gaillion to speak with the Archbishop of Roüen who having examin'd Matters found the business of such importance that he sent a Commission to his Council and gave express order to Monsieur Du Bellay to make this Man to disown all the Points that he was accused of and not to hearken to any thing he should say till 't was communicated to those that had informed against him things were transacted accordingly and he appeared in the Archbishop's Court and retracted all his former Opinions and it might be believed 't was sincerely for he never shew'd any grudge against those that prosecuted him which shews that 't is like he was deceived himself by the false conclusions he drew from his false Principles and he was well assured that they had no Intent of hurting him nor other aim but to undeceive him by himself and hinder him from seducing young Scholars that had not been capable of distinguishing Truth from Error in those subtil questions So this Affair ended without Noise and my Brother continuing more and more the means to please God this Love of a Christian Life increased so much from the 24th year of his Age that it was conspicuous throughout the whole Family My Father himself not being ashamed to submit to his Sons instructions and from thenceforward imbraced a more exact manner of Life by the continual Exercise of Vertue until his Death which was very exemplary and as became a good Christian My Sister also who was endued with extraordinary Gifts of the Mind and that from her Infancy had acquired a Reputation that but very few attain unto was so wrought on by my Brothers Discourses that she resolved to part with all Worldly advantages she so much loved to consecrate her self wholly to Gods Service which she performed accordingly entring into a Nunnery where she so well improv'd the Talents God bestow'd on her that she was esteemed capable of the most difficult Imployments which she discharged with all Fidelity and departed this Life the 4th of October 1661. Aged 36. Years In the mean while my Brother whom God made the Instrument of all this good was agitated by continual Sicknesses which still increas'd upon him But now knowing no other Science but that of Holyness he found a great deal of difference betwixt this and those that had formerly taken up his Thoughts for whereas his sicknesses put a stop to the progress of the others this on the contrary made him the better in the same indispositions by the admirable Patience with which he bore all things and to shew it I will only relate one instance Amongst other inconveniencies he had that that he could not swallow any liquid thing unless 't were warm and not then neither but drop by drop and having besides a violent Head-ach and an excessive heat in the Bowels and other Distempers the Physicians order'd he should be purged every other day for three Months together so that he must take all this Physick warmed and drop by drop which was no small torture and grieved them that were about him yet he never seem'd to repine at it The continuance of this means with other helps procur'd him some ease but did not fully recover him so that the Physicians were of Opinion that perfectly to recover his health it was convenient he should lay apart all manner of Study and that he should seek occasions of recreating himself as much as he could My Brother was very loath to follow this advice because he thought there might be danger in it but at last he comply'd with it thinking he was bound to do what he could for the recovery of his health and he judged innocent Recreations could do him no harm and so he set out into the World and though by God's Mercy he ever shun'd all Vice nevertheless God having appointed him to a higher Degree of perfection he would not suffer him to remain in that course of Life and he made my Sister the Instrument for this purpose as he had formerly used my Brother as a means to call my Sister from the Pleasures she lived in in the World. She was at this time a Nun and lived so exemplary a Life that she was much esteemed by the whole House being in this Condition she was concern'd to see him to whom under God she was bound for the happiness she enjoy'd not to enjoy the like Graces and my Brother often visiting her she often spake to him and at length did it so effectually and obligingly that she perswaded him to what he had before perswaded her wholly to forsake the World so that he resolved with himself to forsake all Worldly Pleasures and Enjoyments and to omit all Superfluities of Life even to the indangering his Health thinking his Salvation was to be preferr'd before all things He was then about 30. years of Age and always sickly and 't was about that time he took up the course of Life that he continu'd till his Death The better to accomplish his Design and to break off all his former Customs he remov'd his Lodging and went to reside some time in the Country from whence being return'd he so plainly shew'd that he would quit the World that at last the World left him and be setled the manner of his living in this retirement upon those chief Maxims of denying himself all Pleasures and Superfluities and 't was in the Exercise thereof that he spent all the rest of his Days The better to attain his desire from thenceforwards he deny'd himself the Attendance of his Servants as much as he could possible he made his Bed himself he went to take his Dinner at the Kitchin and carry'd it to his Chamber and so return'd with it back again To conclude he made no use of his Servants but to dress his Meat to go of Errands and such other things as he could not well do himself he spent his whole time in Praying and Reading the Holy Scriptures and therein took unspeakable Pleasure he said the Holy Scripture was not a knowledge of the Brain but a knowledge of the Heart that was not to be attained but by those that were sincere and that it was obscurity to all others It was with this Frame of Mind that he read it disclaiming all the perfection of his own Wit and made so great progress therein that he had it all by heart so that no body could impose on him therein for when any would say 't is so or so he would answer positively That is of the Scripture or not and would presently turn to the place He also read all the Commentaries with great exactness for the respect to the Religion wherein he had been Educated from his Youth was now changed into an ardent Love for all the Truths of Faith whether it be for those that regard humility of Mind or those that regard our
what is prov'd to them to their own Mind of which one cannot give them an absolute Reason But they do not see the advantage they think to find by believing nothing but what is indisputable is much less than they think and so far from securing themselves thereby from Error that on the contrary it is what plunges them deeper into it in depriving them of the knowledge of many Truths the want whereof is a great and certain Error and yet is scarce perceiv'd or felt for the habit they have taken up of this continual Doubting and of reducing all to Figures and Motion of the matter by degrees spoils their Judgment makes them strangers to their Heart so that they cannot return to it and at last makes them think they are themselves nothing but meer delusion what can there be that is more capable of making them insensible to true Reason and to the Proofs Monsieur Pascall has given although they have the least cause in the World to think that he could be mistaken and that in their way it self they lookt on him or ought to have so done with admiration To conclude There is one sort of Men almost as hard to be found as true Christians and that seem less unlike than others to become such Those that have been sensible of the Corruption of Men their Misery and their great want of Knowledge they have sought Remedies without knowing the Ground of their Distemper and regarding things in a general way as they could humanly do they have seen or believ'd to see what Men were bound to do one to another and some have extended their Speculations and the Notions of Natural Vertues as far as they could were there any thing great amongst Men and that the Glory they receiv'd one of another was of any worth those only could pretend to some share in it And as 't is only amongst such there is any Wit and Civility one would think more were there to be expected than of any others and that they were just on the Borders of Christianity But it is taking it in another Sense what sets them farthest off seeing there are no Sicknesses so dangerous as those that most resemble Health no◠any greater hinderance to perfection than to think one has attain'd it Charity if it be permitted to use the Comparison may be lookt upon as a Curious Work put into the hands of Men and by their neglect and want of care comes to be broken all to pieces they have in some measure been sensible of their Loss and gathering up what remain'd of the Peices they patcht up the best they could that they call Honesty But alas what a difference what spaces what disproportions is betwixt them It is but a wretched Copy of this Divine Original and Woe to him that sits down satisfi'd with it and cannot but see it is his own Work that is to say Vanity Nevertheless this difference as Infinite as it is in it self is not discern'd by those of whom I speak and the State whereto they are advanc'd being indeed considerable enough after the manner as they judge of it they are wholly satisfi'd with it they move and continue in it till Death and nothing is harder than to make them dispise what sets them so much above the rest of Men and to incline them to acknowledge their own Wickedness which is the very beginning and perfection of Christianity This is what gives occasion to think that very few would have been the better for Monsieur Pascall's Book if it had been put in the very State he intended it however let every body consider it it is well worth the Labour and that those that after having adjusted Christian Religion to their own Mind in doing all things as they list as also those that resolve to believe nothing of it Let them know that in Matters of Religion it is the highest pitch of mischief to ingage in any but in the right and that there is but one that is so Whatever Light whatever Knowledge one has there is nothing easier than to be deceiv'd especially when one will and of what likely appearance soever one flatters himself it is most certain one shall repent to have made an ill choice and one shall repent Eternally For to conclude one acts nothing that may be of force to perswade themselves And whatever Ground one finds in ones own Opinions the chief importance is that they are true and that at the fatal Moment that shall for ever determine our State at the drawing of the Curtain that will fully shew us this Truth if we discern more than we did know we should not at least find the contrary of what we believed The End. Approbation of Doctors WE whose Names are here under-written Doctors in Divinity of the Faculty of Paris Certifie that we have Read and Examin'd a Book Intitul'd A Discourse on Monsieur Pascall 's Thoughts Compos'd by Monsieur Du Bois de la Cour wherein we find nothing contrary to Faith and good Manners Dated at Paris the 25th of July 1671. Le Vaillant Curate of St. Christopher Grenet Curate of St. Bennet Marlin Curate of St. Eustach Labbé Fortin Peht Pied T. Roulliard A DISCOURSE ON THE PROOFS Of the Books of MOSES CHristian Religion makes no difficulty to own that the Mind of Man cannot attain to the height of the Mysteries which it teacheth and that it is too narrow to go discover the Foundations of it in the Eternal Springs of Truth where it does appear as visible as the first Principles could his sight reach so far Neither doth it pretend to be absolutely believed by a blind instinct without any Proof and God has not given to Man Reason and Understanding to render so great a Present not only vain but also hurtful in offerring him Objects of Faith against which the very Instrument of his Knowledge should be in a continual revolt This is the Portion of those Schismaticks who are grounded only upon their own rash Capricioes and Fanatical Visions who are not grounded nor do subsist but through the want of Reason like to that which first produc'd them whereas Christian Religion is such that how inpenetrable soever its Mysteries are they cannot be doubted of but by another kind of mistake For to conclude the business is not to Examine the possibility of these Mysteries nor to settle the Mind about all the Difficulties that it finds in submitting thereunto Men would be unjust to desire to comprehend them they who cannot comprehend themselves and yet doubt not of their Existence And it is sufficient to shew them that all these so unconceivable Truths are joined not only to other Truths they know but also to that of all the Truths that are most proportion'd to their Understanding and whereof they may inform themselves by the most known and certain ways If Men know any thing of certain it is Deeds and of any thing that falls within their Knowledge there is
Indifferency if he has the least Spark of Reason and how stupid soever he has been coming to know himself he ought to consider whence he came and what shall become of him Monsieur Pascall having reduc'd him to this Condition of desiring to be inform'd of so weighty a Doubt in the first place he directs him to Philosophers and having there discover'd to him all that the greatest Philosophers of all manner of Sects have said of the State of Man he shews so many Defects so many Weaknesses Contradictions and Absurdities in what they have alledg'd that it is no hard matter for Men to judge that they cannot there find any safety Then he makes him reflect on the whole Universe and on all Ages and shews the many Religions that is Profess'd but at the same time he shews him by undeniable Arguments that all those Religions are compos'd but of Vanity and Folly of Errours and Extravagancies and that he cannot yet therein find any thing may satisfie him At length he makes him look on the Jews and in them he shews such extraordinary Circumstances that they easily Attract his Attention having shew'd what this People had that was Peculiar he particularly insists in mentioning an only Book whereby they are Govern'd and which contains both their History their Law and Religion One no sooner opens this Book but that one finds the World is the Work of God and that it is the same God who did make Man after his own Image and that he invested him with all Benefits of Body and Mind suitable to that State. Although there has been nothing yet that convinc'd him of this Truth yet it is very grateful to him and Reason alone suffices to shew that he finds more likelihood that God made Man and all things in the World than in all that Men have fansy'd by their own Imaginations What most puzzles him is That by the Description made of Man he is very uncapable of Possessing the Privileges that belonged to him when he first came out of the Hands of his Creator but he does not long continue in this Doubt for persisting to Read this same Book he therein finds that Man being Created by God in the State of Innocence and enjoying all manner of Perfection the first thing he did was to Rebel against his Maker and to employ all the Benefits he received to displease him Monsieur Pascall makes him understand this was the greatest Crime that could be in all its Circumstances it was punish'd not only in the First Man who thereby falling from his first State was plung'd in Misery in Weakness Errour and Ignorance but also all his Posterity are thereby Polluted and Corrupted to all ensuing Generations Then he shews him several places in this Book wherein he has discover'd this Truth he lets him see that there is scarce any more mention made of Man but in reference to this State of Weakness and Corruption that it is often repeated that all Flesh is Polluted that Men have given up themselves to their Lusts and that they are prone to Evil from their Birth He shews also that this first Fall is the Spring not only of what is most incomprehensible in the Nature of Man but also of a great many Effects that are without him and whereof the Cause is unknown to him To conclude he represents Man in such Lively Colours in this Book that he does not appear to differ from the first Original that he found out 'T is not enough to have shewn to this Man his State of Misery Monsieur Pascall shews him farther That in this same Book he shall find matter of Comfort and in Effect he shews him that 't is said that the Remedy is in the Hands of God that it is to him we must have Recourse to have the Helps we stand in need of that he will be intreated of us and that he will send a Saviour to Men that will pay a Ransom for them and that will restore them to Life and Happiness Having explain'd unto him a great many particular Remarks touching this Book and People he farther makes him consider that it is that alone that makes due mention of the Soveraign Being and that gives a Right Notion of a True Religion he represents the most sensible Marks which he referrs to those contain'd in this Book and he inclines him particularly to consider that it makes the Essence of true Worship consist in Loving and Adoring God which is a peculiar Character and that does visibly distinguish it from all other Religions whose falseness appears by want of this Essential Mark. Though Monsieur Pascall had led this Man on so far whom he intended insensibly to convince having not yet said any thing to him that might confirm him in the Truths that he discover'd to him nevertheless he put him in a State of receiving them with satisfaction provided he may be assur'd that he ought so to do and wished with all his Heart that they may be certain and well grounded seeing he therein found such great Benefit for his Repose and for satisfying his Doubts This is the State every Reasonable Man should be in if he duely consider'd the Consequences of the things Monsieur Pascall Treated of and it might justly be hoped that then he would soon submit to the Proofs that he after alledged to confirm the certainty of the weighty Truths which he asserted and which make up the ground of the Christian Religion which he design'd to teach To speak something briefly to those Proofs having shew'd in General that the Truths in Agitation were contain'd in a Book the certainty whereof no Man of Sense ever question'd he insisted particularly on the Books of Moses wherein these Truths are more especially to be found and he shew'd by a great many undeniable Circumstances that it was alike impossible that Moses should have Recorded Untruths or that the People to whom he committed them should suffer themselves to be Cheated had Moses a design to do so He spake also of all the Miracles that are mention'd in this Book and being of great concern to the Religion therein contain'd he made appear it was impossible but they must needs be true not only by the Authority of the Book wherein they are contain'd but also by the Circumstances wherewith they are attended and which render them Infallible He shew'd also how all Moses's Law was Figurative that all which hapned to the Jews was only the Figure of the Truths accomplish'd at the coming of the Messias and that the Veil that cover'd these Figures being taken off it was easie to see their accomplishment and full Consummation in regard of those that believed in Jesus Christ Monsieur Pascall afterwards undertook to prove the Truth of Religion by Prophecies and he inlarged very much on this Subject more than on any other having taken much pains therein and having particular Abilities to this purpose he explain'd them in a very full and clear manner
bounded his Curiosity to things Natural And he was often heard say that he added this Obligation to all the others he owed his Father who being himself very Pious and Religious he infus'd the same Thoughts into him from his Infancy laying him down this Maxim That whatever is the Object of Faith cannot be of Reason and much less can be Subject to Reason These Instructions being often inculcated by a Father whom he mightily esteem'd and in whom he saw there was much Knowledge accompany'd with a powerful way of Expression did so work on his Mind that what ever Discourse he heard made by Debauch'd Libertines he never was much concern'd at it and though he was very young he look'd upon them as Persons holding this wrong Principle That human Reason is above all things and as such who could not distinguish Nature from Faith. But to conclude having thus passed his Youth in Employments and Divertisements that seem'd harmless enough in the sight of Men God so wrought on him that he made him clearly perceive that Christian Religion obliges us to Live wholly to him and to make him our chief End and Object And this Truth appear'd so evident to him so profitable and so necessary that it made him resolve to sound a Retreat and by little and little withdraw himself from all Worldly concerns that he may thereunto the better and more effectually apply himself This Design of sequestring himself that he might lead a more Christian and Austere Life enter'd into his Mind in his younger Years and even then it inclin'd him to leave off his Study of Prophane Sciences that he might the better apply himself to those things that concerned his own Salvation and also that of other Men. But frequent Sicknesses whereto he was subject hindered for a time the executing his Designs until he came to be about Thirty years Old. It was about this time he began to set about it in good earnest and the better to effect it and at once to shake of all Impediments he remov'd his Habitation and afterwards went into the Country where he remain'd some time being come back he so well shew'd he intended to quit the World that at last the World forsook him In his retirement he fix'd the manner of his Living on two chief Maxims which was to renounce all Pleasure and Superfluity these things he had ever in view and he indeavour'd to persevere and perfect himself therein daily more and more It was his continual Practice of these two Maxims which made him shew so much Patience in all his Sickness and Sufferings by which he was scarce ever free from Pain all the Course of his Life it made him Exercise very strict and severe Mortifications on himself so that he refus'd not only to deny his Senses what might be pleasing to them but also would without difficulty or regret and with Pleasure take those things that were irksom to them whether it was Food or Physick this inclin'd him also daily to deny himself every thing that he suppos'd was not absolutely necessary as well in Apparel as Diet as also in Furniture and in all other things whatsoever and this inspir'd him with such a great Love of Poverty that it was always in his Thoughts and when he intended to undertake any thing he would presently consider if it might be consistent with a State of Poverty so that he had such a Tenderness and Compassion for the Poor that he never refused an Alms to any Poor body and many times he gave very considerably even out of that which he wanted for his own support this made him that he could not indure to study his own Conveniencies and that he often condemn'd this over great Curiosity and desire of excelling in all things as of being serv'd by the best Workmen in having always apparel of the best and most Fashionably made and a thousand other such things as are done without difficulty it being thought there is no hurt in it but he did not think so and to conclude it made him perform several other Remarkable Christian Exercises which I will not here relate to avoid Prolixity it being not my design to write a Life but to give some Ideas of Monsieur Pascall's Piety and Vertue to those that did not know him for as for those that did and were acquainted with him the last Years of his Life I do not pretend to inform such and make no question but they know very well that I pass over in silence many other things that might be here inserted Approbation of the Bishop of Amiens WE have Read the Posthumus Book of Monsieur Pascall which required the Authors care in finishing it although it contains but Fragments and seeds of Discourse yet therein may be perceiv'd great Curiosities and Beams of Sublime Light. The force and loftiness of the Thoughts do sometimes amaze the Mind but the more they are weigh'd the plainer they are seen to be drawn from the Philosophy and Theology of the Fathers A Work so imperfect fills us with Admiration and Grief that there is no other Hand that can finish these first Essays but that which knew how to ingrave so lively and great an Idea nor that can Comfort us for the Loss we suffer by his Death The World is oblig'd to the Persons that have preserv'd such Precious Remains although they are not fil'd and polish'd such as they are we make no doubt but they will be very useful to those that love the Truth and their own Salvation Given at Paris where we chanc'd to be about the Affairs of our Church the 1st of November 1669. Francis of Amiens Approbation of the Bishop of Cominges THese Thoughts of Monsieur Pascall shew the Beauty of his Wit the Solidity of his Piety and his Profound Learning they give so Excellent an Idea of Religion that without any great difficulty one submits to what is more abstruse in them They so fully teach the chief Points of Morality that they presently discover the Spring and Progress of our Disorders and the Means of avoiding them and they so savour of all other Sciences that it may easily be perceiv'd Monsieur Pascall was not ignorant of any Human Learning Although these Thoughts are only the first Lines of Reasonings he mus'd upon yet nevertheless they contain a great depth of Knowledge They are but Seeds yet they produce Fruit as soon as they are sown One Naturally finishes what this Learn'd Man intended to say and the Readers themselves become Authors in an Instant by making but a little serious Reflection Nothing therefore is fitter profitably and pleasantly to entertain the Mind than the Reading of these Essays how imperfect soever they at first seem to be and according to my Judgment the perfectest Productions that has for this long time appear'd do not better deserve to be Printed than this imperfect Book doth At Paris September 4th 1669. Gilbert Bishop of Cominges Approbation of Monsieur Camus Dr.
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
without seeking for instruction I know not who sent me into the World nor what the World is nor what I am my self I am very ignorant of all things I know not what my Body is what my Sense nor what my Soul is and this very part of my self that thinks what I say and that reflects upon it and upon it self knows not it self any better than all the rest I behold the vast distances of the Universe that contains me and find my self confin'd to a Corner of this vast Body not knowing wherefore I am placed rather in this place than another nor why the little time alotted me to live is assign'd me at this Point rather than any other of that Eternity that has gone before or shall follow after me I see nothing but Infinities on all sides that swallow me up like an Atom and like a Shadow that remains but a Moment and passeth away All that I know is that I shall shortly die but what I know most of all is that I do not know Death it self which I cannot avoid As I know not whence I came so I know not whither I shall go and I only know that departing out of this World I shall fall Eternally either into the hands of an Angry God or into nothing not knowing which of these two Conditions I shall Eternally be reduc'd unto This is my State full oâ— Misery Weakness and Obscurity from all which shall I conclude that I ought to pass all the days of my Life without thinking of what shall befal me and that I need only follow my Inclinations without looking back or troubling my self in doing what may be to fall into Eternal Misery in case what is said be true probably I may find fome information of my doubts but I 'll not trouble my self nor take a step to seek it and despising those that give themselves this trouble I 'll go on without fear to try so great an Experiment and slide along to Death in the incertainty of the Eternity of my future Condition Undoubtedly it is an honour to Religion to have such unreasonable Men for its Enemies and their opposition is so inconsiderable that it serves on the contrary but to establish the chief Truths which it teacheth us for the Christian Faith tendeth principally to teach these two things the Corruption of Nature and Redemption by Jesus Christ now if they help not to shew the truth of Redemption by the Sanctity of their Lifes they do nevertheless admirably shew the Corruption of Nature by such unreasonable Opinions Nothing imports a Man so much as to know his own State nothing is of greater concernment to him than Eternity so that to see Men unconcern'd at the loss of their being and in the danger of an Eternity of Misery this is unnatural they are quite otherwise in regard of all things else they fear things of the least Moment they foresee them they are sensible of them and the same Man that passes away Days and Nights in vexation and grief for the loss of an Office or for some supposed loss of Honour is the same that knows he shall lose all by Death and yet nevertheless lives unconcern'd without fear or any trouble This strange insensibleness for things of the highest concern in a heart so sensible of the least Trifles is most Monstrous it is an Incomprehensible Riddle and Supernatural Stupidity A Man in a dark Dungeon expecting every moment when Sentence of Death shall pass upon him having but one hours time to know if it be past and also to try to have it revoked would act contrary to Natural Sense to pass that hour away not in informing himself if Sentence be past against him or not but in Sports and Pastimes This is the very State wherein those Persons are only with this difference that the dangers they are liable to are far more terrible than the bare loss of Life and transient punishment this Prisoner might apprehend nevertheless they run without fear upon the Precipice having willingly blinded their Eyes that they should not see their danger and scoff at those which warn them of it So that not only the Zeal of those that seek God doth evidently prove the truth of Religion but also the blindness of those which seek him not and that live in this horrible negligence there must needs be a strange disorder in the Nature of Man to live in this state much more to boast of it For could they be fully assur'd that there was nothing to be fear'd after Death but to be reduc'd to nothing were not this a matter of sadness and despair rather than of boasting is it not therefore a very great folly having no certainty to boast of being in this doubt Nevertheless it is evident Man is so deprav'd that there is in his heart a kind of delight in this Condition This senseless rest betwixt the fear of Hell and annihilation is so pleasing that not only those which are truly in this unhappy State boast of it but also those which are not in it think it brave to seem to be in it For we see by experience that most of those which pretend to this State are of this latter sort that they are Persons which disguise themselves and are not such as they seem to be they are such as have heard that the gentile way of Living consists in appearing stout it is what they call casting off the yoke and must do it only in imitation of others But if they have ever so little common sense it is no difficult matter to let them see how much they are mistaken in seeking to get any credit by this way I say it is not the way to acquire credit amongst Persons that have a right Opinion of things and that know that the only way to succeed therein is to appear honest faithful iudicious and capable of being serviceable to friends for Men Naturally love those things which are useful to them now what benefit can it be to hear a Man say he has thrown off the yoke that there is no God that regards his Actions that he is absolute Master of himself and does not expect to be accountable to any one else Doth he thereby think Men â—hould put the more confidence in him and expect to receive Comfort Council or Help from him in any business that may befal us Doth â—e think it can be any Comfort to us to say that he thinks the Soul is but a little Wind or â—ir and to speak thus with confidence and a â—eeming satisfaction Is this a matter of sport is it â—ot rather a thing to be mentioned with sadness â—s the sadest thing in the World Would they seriously consider it they would â—nd this is so ill a Course so contrary to Reason â—o opposite to honesty and so very far distant from that Gentility they pretend to that nothing in the World does more gain them the hared and displeasure of Men and makes them
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
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
Reason seeing it is a thing above his Reason and that it is a thing so far from being contriv'd by his Reason that his Reason is lost when it is presented to him 10. * These two Estates of Innocence and Corruption being laid down it is impossible but we should be convinc'd of them 11. * Let us follow our own Sense let us observe our own selves and try if we do not find the lively Characters of these two Natures 12. * So many contradictions would they be found in a single Subject 13. * This duplicity of Man is so visible that some have thought we had two Souls a single Subject appearing to them uncapable of such great and sudden varieties from a boundless Presumption unto an extraordinary lowness of Spirit 14. * So that all these contrarieties which seem most to alienate Men from the knowledg of Religion are the very things should most of all direct them to the knowledg of the Truth As for my particular I freely confess that as soon as the Christian Religion discovers this Principle that the Nature of Man is Corrupt and fallen from God it presently enables me to see clearly the Character of this Truth for Nature is such that in all things it shews plainly the loss of God both in Man and without Man. Without these Divine Lights what were Man able to do unless he rais'd himself up in the little remainder of the Thoughts of their last Dignity or cast themselves down in the sense of their present Misery for not having a clear view of the Truth they could never attain to perfect Virtue some considering Nature as corrupted others as irreparable they could not have avoided Pride or Sloth which are the Springs of all Vice seeing they could not shun falling therein by weakness or be freed by Pride for did they know the Excellency of Man they would be ignorant of his Corruption whereby they would avoid Sloath but would be plunged into Pride And did they know the Infirmity of Nature they would not know its Dignity whereby though they avoided the Vanity of it yet it was by running head-long into despair From hence proceeded the divers Sects of Stoicks Epicureans Dogmatists and Accademists c. It is Christian Religion only is capable of curing these two Evils not in making them expel each other by Worldly Wisdom but in expelling both of them by the Simplicity of the Gospel For it teacheth the Just whom it lifteth up to the participation of the Divinity it self that in this exalted State they yet have in them the Spring of all the Corruption which during the course of Life renders them subject to Error Misery Death and Sin and it informs the most guilty that they are capable of the favour of their Redeemer whereby it makes those fear whom it justifies and affords Comfort to those it Condemns It doth with so much evenness temper fear with hope by this double capacity which is common to all of Grace and Sin that it humbleth infinitely more than Reason can do but without casting into despair and elevateth infinitely more than the Pride of Nature yet without puffing up shewing plainly thereby that being free from Error and Vice it only appertains to her both to correct and instruct Men. 15. * We cannot comprehend the glorious Estate of Adam the Nature of Sin nor the manner how it reacheth unto us these things were transacted in a State of Nature diflerent from ours and do surpass our present capacity and indeed all those things are unnecessary for our Knowledg to free us out of our Miseries all that behoves us to know is that by Adam we are miserable corrupt estranged from God but Redeemed by Jesus Christ and of this we have admirable Proofs upon Earth 16. * Christianity is surprising It enjoyns Man to confess that he is vile and abominable and at the same time it commands him to endeavour to be like God without such a Ballance this elevation would render him extreamly Vain or this lowness would render him horribly Contemptible 17. * Misery inclines us to despair greatness doth inspire presumption 18. * The Incarnation discovers to Man the height of his Misery by the greatness of the Remedy that it wanted 19. * There is not to be found in Christian Religion that degree of Misery which makes us incapable of Happiness nor a State of Holiness that is exempt from Sin. 20. * There is no Doctrine more suitable to Man than this it informing him of his double capacity of receiving and losing Grace by reason of the double danger whereunto he is always exposed of Despair or of Pride 21. * Philosophers never prescrib'd any means proportion'd to these two States they inspired only thoughts of Pride and Greatness and this is not the true State of Man they inspir'd also Toughts of meanness and that is not neither the State of Man there must be thoughts of meanness not of the abjectness of Nature but of Repentance not to rest in it but to proceed on to Greatness there must be thoughts of greatness but of that greatness which proceeds from Grace not Merit after having been humbled 22. * No body is so happy as a true Christian nor so Virtuous Reasonable and Aimable With how little Pride doth a Christian think he is united to God how unconcernedly doth he compare himself to the Worms of the Earth 23. * Who then can refuse to believe these Heavenly Lights and to Adore them For is it not as clear as the Light that we feel in our selves indelible Characters of Excellence and is it not also as certain that we feel every Moment the Effects of our deplorable State What then doth this chaos and horrible confusion inform us but the truth of this double State with such a loud Voice that 't is impossible to resist §. IV. It is not incredible that God should unite himself to us WHat most of all hinders Men from believing that they are capable of being united to God is nothing else but the musing upon their own wretchedness if they think on it sincerely and extend it as far as I have done that they confess this vileness to be indeed very great and that we are of our selves uncapable of knowing if his Mercy cannot make us worthy of him For I would fain know how this Creature that confesses himself so Vile comes to limit the Mercy of God and to set it the bounds that his Fancy doth suggest Man knows so little what God is that he doth not know what he himself is and being troubled at the sight of his own State how dares he say God cannot render him capable of communicating himself to him I would ask him if God requires ought else of him but to know and love him and wherefore he should think God should not make himself be known and loved of him seeing he is naturally capable of Love and Knowledg for there 's no question to be
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
things of the World But Desire enjoys God and useth the World whereas on the contrary Charity useth the World and enjoys God. Now it is the end that denominates things all that hinders us to attain to it is called Enemy so that the Creatures though good are Enemies of the Just when they divert them from God and God himself is looked upon as an Enemy by those whose Lusts he interrupts So that the word Enemy relating to the latter end the Just understood it of their Passions and Carnal Men understood by it the Babylonians so that these Terms were only obscure to the unjust and 't is what is said by Isaiah Signa legem in Discipulis meis and that Jesus Christ shall be a stone of stumbling but blessed are those that shall not be offended in him The Prophet Hosea also saith plainly Where is the wise and he shall hear my words for the ways of God are straight the just shall walk in them but the wicked shall fall Nevertheless this Testament made after this manner light to some and dark to others did clearly shew in those whom it darkned the truth which was to be known by others for the outward visible things they received of God were so great and Divine that it was evident enough he had the power to give them the invisible things and also the Messias 13. * The time of the first coming of the Messias is foretold that of his second coming is not foretold because his first coming was to be privately whereas his second is to be more publick and so manifest that even his Enemies shall know it But as he was to come obscurely and to be known only by such as search'd the Scriptures God so dispos'd things that all contributed to make him known the Jews proved him in receiving him for they were the keepers of the Prophesies and they proved him also in not receiving him because therein they accomplished the Prophesies 14. * The Jews had Miracles Prophesies that they see accomplish'd and the Doctrine of their Law was to Love and Worship one God it was also perpetual it had therefore the Marks of the true Religion and so it was But you must distinguish betwixt the Doctrine of the Jews and the Doctrine of the Law of the Jews Now the Doctrine of the Jews was not true though it had Miracles Prophesies and Perpetuity because it wanted this other Point of not Adoring and Loving but God only The Jewish Religion should be consider'd differently in the Tradition of their Saints and the Tradition of the People The Moral and Felicity of it areridiculous in the Tradition of the People but they are incomparable in their Saints the Foundation is admirable It is the antientest and most authentick Book in the World And whereas Mahomet to make his Religion subsist forbid its being Read Moses to Establish his commanded that all the World should Read his 15. * The Jewish Religion is wholly Divine in its Authority in its Duration in its Perpetuity in its Moral in its Conduct Doctrine and Effects c. It was form'd on the pattern and likeness of the Messias and the truth of the Messias was acknowledg'd by the Jewish Religion which was the Type of it The truth was only in Type amongst the Jews in Heaven it is openly seen in the Church it is vail'd and known by relation to the Figure the Figure was taken from the Truth and the Truth was known by the Figure 16. * Whosoever judges of the Jews Religion by the exteriour cannot rightly understand it It is visible in the Holy Records and in the Tradition of the Prophets who have sufficiently shew'd that they did not understand the Law by the Letter so our Religion is Divine in the Gospel and Apostles but in those that corrupt it it is quite disfigur'd 17. * There were two sorts of Jews one soâ—t had only vain Pagan Affections the others had Christian Desires 18. * The Messias according to the Carnal Jews should be a great Temporal Prince according to Carnal Christians he came to exempt us from loving God and to give us Sacraments that operate without us neither of these is the Christian nor Jews Religion 19. The true Jews and Christians believ'd a Messias that enjoyn'd them to love God and by this Love to triumph over their Enemies 20. * The Vail which is over the Scriptures to the Jews is also to bad Christians and to all such as abhor not themselves but how easily do we understand them and know Jesus Christ when we truly censure and abhor our selves 21. * The Carnal Jews keep the midle betwixt Christians and Pagans the Pagans know not God and love only Worldly things the Jews know the true God and love the World only Christians know the true God and do not love the World. Jews and Pagans love the same Riches Jews and Christians know the same God. 22. * It is visibly a People made expresly to be Winesses to the Messias they keep the Records and love them but don't understand them and all this is foretold for it is said Gods Law is given into their Custody but like a Book seal'd 23. * Whilst the Prophets were in being to defend the Law the People were negligent but â—ince there have been no Prophets Zeal has succeeded which is an admirable Providence §. XI Moses 1. THe Creation of the World beginning to be far off God provided a Contempoâ—ary Historian and appointed a whole Nation â—o keep this Book to the end this History might be the most Authentick History in the World and that all Men should be inform'd of a thing so necessary to be known and which can be known by no other means 2. * Moses was very Wise and Learned that 's certain had he then had a design to impose on the World he would have done it in such a manner as that he might not have been accus'd of deceit He has done the quite contrary for had he told Lyes there had not been a Jew but would have discover'd his Imposture Wherefore for Example did he make the Lives of the first Men so long and so few Generations He might have hid himself in a multitude of Generations but he could not in so few for 't is not the number of Years but the multitude of Generations which render things obscure Truth doth not vary but by the change of Men. Nevertheless he places two things the most memorable that ever hapned viz. the Creation and the Deluge so near one another that they almost touch by the fewness of Generations he places betwixt them so that when he wrote these things the remembrance of them was fresh in the Mind of all the Jews 3. * Shem who saw Lamech who saw Adam did at least see Abraham and Abraham saw Jacob who saw those that saw Moses therefore the Deluge and the Creation are true This concludes amongst certain Persons who know it very
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
foretold then there would have been difficulty even for the good for the sincerity of their Heart would not have suffered them to have understood that a × for example signifies 600 years But the time was clearly foretold and the manner of it in Types By this means the wicked taking the good things promis'd for Worldly Goods they err though the time be plainly foretold but the good do not err for the understanding of good things promis'd depends of the Heart that calls that good which it loves but the understanding of the promis'd time depends not of the Heart and so the clear Prediction of time and obscure of Riches doth only deceive the wicked 15. * What was the Messias to be seeing that by him the Scepter was to continue for ever in Judah and that at his coming the Scepter was to be taken away from Judah To cause that in seeing they should not see and in hearing they should not understand nothing was more just 16. * Instead of complaining that God hid himself we are bound to give him Praise for so much discovering himself and also render him Thanks for not discovering himself to the Wise and the Great who were unworthy to know so Holy a God. 17. * The Genealogy of Jesus Christ is in the Old Testament mingled with so many other things that it can hardly be discern'd had not Moses kept the Register but of the Pedigree of Jesus Christ only it would have been too palpable after all they that consider it narrowly may see that of Jesus Christ by Thamar and Ruth c. 18. * The most apparent defects give matter to those that rightly understand things for Instance the two Genealogies of Matthew and Luke it is evident they were not made by concert 19. * Let us not be therefore charged with want of Light seeing we own it but let the Truth of Religion be confessed even in the very obscurity of Religion in the little Light we have and the indifference we have to know it 20. * Were there but one Religion God would be too manifest were there no Martyrs but in our Religion it would be the same 21. * Jesus Christ to leave the Wicked in their blindness said not that he was not of Nazareth nor that he was not the Son of Joseph 22. * As Jesus Christ continu'd unknown amongst Men so Truth continues amongst common Opinions without any outward difference so the Eucharist in common Bread. 23. * If the Mercy of God be so great that it instructs us savingly even then when it hides it self what Light may we not expect when he shall unvail himself 24. * We can understand nothing of the Works of God unless we lay down this Principle That he blinds some and enlightens others §. XIX That the True Christians and the True Jews are not of the same Religion 1. THe Jewish Religion seemed essentially to consist in being come of Abraham in Circumcision in Sacrifices in Ceremonies the Ark the Temple at Jerusalem and to conclude in the Law and in the Covenant of Moses I say it consisted not in any of these things but in the love of God and God rejected all these other things God had no regard for the Carnal People that was to descend from Abraham That the Jews shall be punish'd of God as well as Strangers if they offend If you forget God and follow after strange Gods I tell you before-hand ye shall perish like the Nations that God has destroy'd in your sight That Strangers shall be received of God as well as the Jews if they love him That the true Jews lookt only for respect as they belonged to God and not to Abraham Thou art our Father though Abraham and Israel know us not thou art our Father and our Redeemer Moses himself has said that God was no accepter of Persons God saith he accepteth not Persons nor Sacrifices I say the Circumcision of the Heart is commanded Be ye Circumcised in Heart take away all Pride of Heart and harden not your selves any more for your God is a great God mighty and terrible and that accepts not Persons That God hath said he will one day do it God will Circumcise thy Heart and thy Childrens that thou mightest love him with all thy Heart That the uncircumcised of heart shall be judged for God will judg the uncircumcised People and all the Children of Israel because they are uncircumcised of Heart 2. * I say Circumcision was a Figure established to distinguish the Jewish People from all other Nations And hence it was that being in the Wilderness they were not Circumcised because they should not mingle themselves with other Nations and that since the coming of Jesus Christ it is no longer necessary That the love of God is recommended in all things I take Heaven and Earth to witness that I have set before you Life and Death that you may chuse Life that you may love God and obey him for he is your Life It is said that the Jews for want of this love should be rejected for their Sins and the Gentiles received in their stead and he said I will hide my face from them I will see what their end shall be for they are a very froward Generation Children in whom is no knowledg They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God they have provoked me to anger with their Vanities and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a People I will provoke them to anger with a foolish Nation That Temporal Riches are deceitful and that the chief Riches is to be united to God. That their Holy Days and Feasts are displeasing to God. That the Jews Sacrifices were displeasing to God and not only those of the wicked Jews but also that he was not pleas'd with those of the good Jews as appears by the 49th Psalm where before he addresses his Discourse to the wicked by these words Peccatori autem dixit Deus he saith He desires not the Blood nor Sacrifices of Beasts That the Sacrifices of the Gentiles shall be accepted of God and that God will not take any delight in the Sacrifices of the Jews That God will make a New Covenant by the Messias and that the Old Covenant shall be put away That old things shall be forgotten That the Ark shall no more be remembred That the Temple shall be rejected That the Sacrifices should be rejected and other pure Sacrifices established That the Order of Aaron's Priesthood should be rejected and that of Milchisedeck brought in by the Messias That this Priesthood should be Eternal That Jerusalem should be rejected and a new name given That this last name should be better than that of the Jews and should abide for ever That the Jews should be without Prophets without Kings Princes Sacrifices or Altars That yet neverthless they should
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
two Natures and one Person We believe the substance of Bread being changed into the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ makes him Really present in the Sacrament this is one Truth Another is That this Sacrament also is a Figure of the Cross and of Glory and a Comemmoration of both this is the Catholick Faith which comprehends these two Truths which seem to be opposite to each other The Heresie of this time not conceiving that this Sacrament contains at once the Presence of Jesus Christ and his Figure and that he is both a Sacrifice and the Commemoration of a Sacrifice thinks one of these Truths can't be admitted without excluding the other For this Reason they hold that this Sacrament is Figurative and therein they are not Hereticks They think we exclude this Truth and therefore 't is they make so many Objections upon the passages of the Fathers that say it To conclude they deny the Real Presence and therein they are Hereticks Therefore the readiest way to hinder Heresies is to instruct all things that are true and the surest way of refuting them is to make them all manifest 5. * Grace and Nature will always be in the World there will still be Pelagians and Catholicks because the first Birth produces the one and the second Birth the other 6. * The Church doth merit with Jesus Christ as being inseparable from him the Conversion of all those which are not in the true Religion And afterwards 't is these Converts that do succour the Mother which deliver'd them 7. * The Body can no more live without the Head than the Head can without the Body whoever separates from one or the other is no longer of the Body and belongs not to Jesus Christ all kind of Virtue Martyrdom Fasting and all manner of good Works avail nothing out of the Church and the Communion of the Head of the Church which is the Pope 8. * It will be one of the Torments of the Damned to see that they shall be condemned by their own Reason whereby they pretended to condemn Christian Religion 9. * There is this of common betwixt the Life of the generality of Men and of Saints that they all aspire to Felicity and they differ only in the Object wherein they place it both one and the others call those their Enemies that hinder them from attaining to it 10. * We should judg of what is Good and Evil by the Will of God which can be neither unjust nor ignorant and not by our own Will which is always full of Error and Malice 11. * Jesus Christ has in the Gospel given this Mark to know those that have true Faith which is that they shall speak with new Tongues and indeed the renewing of the Thoughts and the Desires doth cause that of the Discourse for these new things which cannot be displeasing to God as the Old Man cannot be pleasing to him are different from the new things of the Earth inasmuch as the new things of the World how new soever they be do soon decay whereas this new Spirit the longer it continues is so much the more strengthened and renewed Our Old Man dieth saith St. Paul and we are renewed day by day and we shall not be fully renew'd until we enter into Eternity where we shall for ever sing the new Song spoken of by David in the Psalms that is to say the new Song of the Spirit proceeding from Love. 12. * When St. Peter and the Apostles abolished Circumcision where there was any thing to be done against the Law of God they consulted not the Prophets but the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Persons of those that were Circumcised they judged it surer that God had approved those whom he had filled with his Spirit than that heed should be given to the keeping the Law they knew the end of the Law was but the receiving the Holy Ghost and so seeing it was received without Circumcision it was no longer necessary 13. * Two Laws may suffice to rule the whole Christian Republick better than all the Polliticks in the World To Love God and our Neighbour 14. * Religion is proportion'd to all sorts of Men the ordinary sort stop at the State and Establishment it is in and this Religion is such that its only Establishment is sufficient to prove the Truth of it Others ascend to the Apostles the most refin'd go farther even to the beginning of the World Angels see it yet plainer and farther off for they see it in God himself 15. * Those to whom God has given a feeling Sense of Religion in the Heart are very happy and fully convinced but as for those that have it not we cannot procure it for them but by Reasoning until such time as God himself imprints it in their Hearts without which Faith is not profitable to Salvation 16. * God to reserve to himself the power of instructing us and to shew us the difficulty of our unintelligible Being has hid the Mystery of it so far from our sight that we were incapable of attaining to it So that 't is not by the force of our Reason but by the meer submitting of our Reason that we can come rightly to understand our selves 17. * The Wicked that make Profession of following Reason had need be strangely fortify'd with Reason What is 't they say Don't we see say they Beasts live and dye as well as Men and the Turks as well as Christians They have their Ceremonies their Prophets their Doctors their Saints their Religious Orders as well as we Is this contrary to the Scripture Don't it speak of all this If you are indifferent of searching out the Truth here 's room enough you may lye down in ease but if you desire with all your Heart to know and find it 't is not enough to seek it by Halves that may serve for a vain Question of Philosophy but hear your All lyes at stake nevertheless after a slight Reflection of this Nature c. 18. * It is a horrible thing to find all one possesses to wast continually and yet to set ones Heart upon it without seeking if there be not something that is more permanent 19. * We should live otherwise in the World according to these divers suppositions if one could abide there still if it be certain we shall not bide there long and uncertain if it shall be one Hour this last supposition is ours 20. * Let us imagin to see a great many Men in Chains and all condemned to Death some of which are daily executed in sight of the rest those that remain see their own Condition in that of their Companions and looking upon each other with sorrow and without hope expect when it will be their turn This is the representation of the Condition of Men. 21. * By the parts you should concern your self in seeking the Truth for if you dye without seeking the true Good you are ruin'd But you will
deceiv'd themselves though they could not perceive wherein Now it can't be doubted but the greatest Authority to prevail on Men to believe is that of Miracles and Prophecies there 's none so senseless to think one can Naturally divide the Sea and walk through it nor foretel a thing Two thousand years before it come to pass And if any should pretend there were some Miracles and some Prophecies amongst the Heathens this indeed were enough to prove that there is something besides or more than Man and 't would be no hard thing to shew that there is nothing in these Miracles and Prophecies if there were any such but what makes for the Credit of Christian Religion It must then be absolutely deny'd there were never any which is nothing strange to affirm because in all the Histories of the World there are none so well confirm'd as those of our Religion and wherein so many things agree to Establish the truth of them It is what Monsieur Pascall would have plainly manifested whether he had consider'd it in the Matter of Fact or in the Matter wholly and at large in it self and every body may judge so by a short Paragraph left on purpose in his Fragments and is but a kind of Table of Chapters he intended to Treat of of every one of which he spake something by the bye in the Discourse I have now made In the first place as for Moses in particular it cannot be doubted but he was as Learned as any Man could be so that had he been an Impostor he would have taken quite other measures than those he practis'd for considering the things purely human 't was impossible he could have succeeded If for Instance what he said of Adam was false there had been nothing in the World easier than to have convinc'd him For he places so few Generations from the Creation of the World to the Deluge and from thence to the Deliverance out of Aegypt that the History of our Modern Kings is not fresher in our Minds than that was to the Isralites And as there were some living in his time that might have seen Joseph whose Father saw Shem and that Shem might have liv'd One hunder'd Years with Methusalem who probably saw Adam he must needs have lost his Senses to dare relate any thing to this People so vigilant in things of this kind and so careful in preserving important Histories of the Events hapned to their Ancestors Can it be imagin'd they would have been so easie of Belief to think their Fathers liv'd Seven or Eight hunder'd years if they had effectually liv'd but One hunder'd and twenty Years and to have receiv'd on their Report the belief of such Extraordinary things as the Creation of the World the Flood c. whereof there was no Footsteps to be seen amongst them and whereof nevertheless by his Reckoning the remembrance thereof should still be fresh in their Memmory He must needs be very weak to have gone so ill a way to work in the vast scope he might have taken of Forgeing and Lying in thinking to have got any advantage by the number of Years and not perceive what he lost in setting so few Generations seeing it needed only a moderate Understanding to judge if it were any hard Matter to perswade a People that knew ever so little of the History of their Fathers that the Fifth or Sixth ascendant was Created with the World and but Two thousand years before This would be to tell them two Ridiculous Lyes for one and the readier way doubtless had been to proportion the Generations to the number of Years the better to have conceal'd ones self in Obscurity Besides did not Moses know with whom he had to do he who understood Men so well and the Jews in particular That Nation so Inconstant so Perverse and hard to be Govern'd It is likely that amongst 600000 Men whom he chargeth with so many Crimes and Ingratitudes whom he sway'd with so much absoluteness and severity that he slew Twenty thousand of them at once that there should not one be found amongst so many that should have cry'd out against his Impostures and false Miracles For what Man was there that ever boasted of doing so many and so great Wonders as he did He not only call'd those to Witness he did his Miracles for but also a whole Kingdom against whom he did them and instead of a few private and obscure Miracles that are attributed to others here are seen Miracles publickly wrought one after another and such as destroy and restore a whole Kingdom as 't were in an instant Certainly it cannot be thought that any Man could have the confidence to pretend so far and that after all has been said of the Plagues of Egypt he could add that the King and all his Army were drown'd in the Sea which he had divided to those that followed him without fearing some amongst the Egyptians might have discover'd the falseness of it as if what he pretends to have done afterwards in the Wilderness where there were present only those of his own Nation could not have suffic'd him But what there is also very strange to consider is What Glory or Benefit does this Man draw from all this what profit to himself or his Family Does he so much as think of securing the Government to any of his Relations And with how great Sincerity does he relate the least omissions and weaknesses of his Brother and himself and it was the want of Faith which above all things appears so strange after all that had befallen him which hinder'd him from enjoying the Fruit of all his Labours To conclude Let the Law he gave the Jews be examin'd how Prudent and Divine it is Let it be consider'd that all the good contained in all the Laws in the World has been derived thence and to what a Degree one must have understood the Wickedness of Man to have so fully prepared Remedies against it And if that be not enough let it yet be consider'd as full of Rights and Ceremonies whereby the least neglect was severely punisht How a People so Fickle and that so much lov'd their ease And how a People that would have liv'd without any Religion or in a Pagan Religion should so absolutely submit unto it unless they had regarded the promulger of it to be a Man sent of God and unless they had been convinc'd thereof by the Greatness and Splendor of his Actions All this is so convincing that if out of Obstinacy one resists by Words it is nothing else but an invincible blindness can hinder from believing it in the Heart and one may boldly defie any Man whatever to forge any supposition thereon wherewith to satisfie one of ever so little Sense It would be but lost labour to go about to disprove any such Suppositions to this end one must enter upon Particulars which the Limits we have set will not admit of and as 't is impossible People
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
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.