Opening the text

The provincial letters of Blaise Pascal : $b A new translation, with historical introduction and notes, by the Rev. Thomas M'CriePascal, Blaise

Religion

The provincial letters of Blaise Pascal : $b A new translation, with historical introduction and notes, by the Rev. Thomas M'Crie

Name: The provincial letters of Blaise Pascal : $b A new translation, with historical introduction and notes, by the Rev. Thomas M'Crie
Author: Pascal, Blaise

Pascal, Blaise

Jansenists -- France -- Early works to 1800; Jesuits -- Early works to 1800; Port-Royal des Champs (Abbey) -- Early works to 1800

that in what I have been compelled to advance against your moral maxims,
I have been by no means wanting in due consideration: and that you have
more reason to congratulate yourself on my moderation than to complain
of my indiscretion.

The third rule, fathers, is: That when there is need to employ a little
raillery, the spirit of piety will take care to employ it against error
only, and not against things holy; whereas the spirit of buffoonery,
impiety, and heresy, mocks at all that is most sacred. I have already
vindicated myself on that score; and indeed there is no great danger of
falling into that vice so long as I confine my remarks to the opinions
which I have quoted from your authors.

In short, fathers, to abridge these rules, I shall only mention another,
which is the essence and the end of all the rest: That the spirit of
charity prompts us to cherish in the heart a desire for the salvation of
those against whom we dispute, and to address our prayers to God while
we direct our accusations to men. “We ought ever,” says St. Augustine,
“to preserve charity in the heart, even while we are obliged to pursue a
line of external conduct which to man has the appearance of harshness;
we ought to smite them with a sharpness, severe but kindly, remembering
that their advantage is more to be studied than their gratification.” I
am sure, fathers, that there is nothing in my letters, from which it can
be inferred that I have not cherished such a desire towards you; and as
you can find nothing to the contrary in them, charity obliges you to
believe that I have been really actuated by it. It appears, then, that
you cannot prove that I have offended against this rule, or against any
of the other rules which charity inculcates; and you have no right to
say, therefore, that I have violated it.

But, fathers, if you should now like to have the pleasure of seeing,
within a short compass, a course of conduct directly at variance with
each of these rules, and bearing the genuine stamp of the spirit of
buffoonery, envy, and hatred, I shall give you a few examples of it; and
that they may be of the sort best known and most familiar to you, I
shall extract them from your own writings.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

The provincial letters of Blaise Pascal : $b A new translation, with historical introduction and notes, by the Rev. Thomas M'CriePascal, Blaise

Religion

The provincial letters of Blaise Pascal : $b A new translation, with historical introduction and notes, by the Rev. Thomas M'Crie

Pascal, Blaise

Jansenists -- France -- Early works to 1800; Jesuits -- Early works to 1800; Port-Royal des Champs (Abbey) -- Early works to 1800

that in what I have been compelled to advance against your moral maxims,
I have been by no means wanting in due consideration: and that you have
more reason to congratulate yourself on my moderation than to complain
of my indiscretion.

The third rule, fathers, is: That when there is need to employ a little
raillery, the spirit of piety will take care to employ it against error
only, and not against things holy; whereas the spirit of buffoonery,
impiety, and heresy, mocks at all that is most sacred. I have already
vindicated myself on that score; and indeed there is no great danger of
falling into that vice so long as I confine my remarks to the opinions
which I have quoted from your authors.

In short, fathers, to abridge these rules, I shall only mention another,
which is the essence and the end of all the rest: That the spirit of
charity prompts us to cherish in the heart a desire for the salvation of
those against whom we dispute, and to address our prayers to God while
we direct our accusations to men. “We ought ever,” says St. Augustine,
“to preserve charity in the heart, even while we are obliged to pursue a
line of external conduct which to man has the appearance of harshness;
we ought to smite them with a sharpness, severe but kindly, remembering
that their advantage is more to be studied than their gratification.” I
am sure, fathers, that there is nothing in my letters, from which it can
be inferred that I have not cherished such a desire towards you; and as
you can find nothing to the contrary in them, charity obliges you to
believe that I have been really actuated by it. It appears, then, that
you cannot prove that I have offended against this rule, or against any
of the other rules which charity inculcates; and you have no right to
say, therefore, that I have violated it.

But, fathers, if you should now like to have the pleasure of seeing,
within a short compass, a course of conduct directly at variance with
each of these rules, and bearing the genuine stamp of the spirit of
buffoonery, envy, and hatred, I shall give you a few examples of it; and
that they may be of the sort best known and most familiar to you, I
shall extract them from your own writings.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The provincial letters of Blaise Pascal : $b A new translation, with historical introduction and notes, by the Rev. Thomas M'Crie

The provincial letters of Blaise Pascal : $b A new translation, with historical introduction and notes, by the Rev. Thomas M'Crie

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