PASCAL ON THE SAME. Thought wanders up and down, surpris'd, aghast, Triumphantly distress'd - what joy! what dread! What can preserve my life? or what destroy? 9 Is this mere rant, or is it sober truth? To prove it to be the latter, I shall produce a specimen of the same thoughts, from the pen of a writer, whose gravity and sobriety never can be disputed, and whose superior powers of reasoning, have long been acknowledged throughout the whole civilised world. I speak of the celebrated Blaise Pascal,' from whose excellent but loosely arranged "Thoughts," I propose to make some extracts, in order to show the folly of that "atheistical indifference," of which I have before spoken. Thus then does this very eminent and good Christian express his own opinion of the wonderful contrarieties to be found in MAN. "What a chimera then is man! what a surprising novelty! what a confused chaos! what a subject of contradiction! a professed judge of all things, and yet a feeble worm of the earth! the great depository and guardian of truth, and yet a mere huddle of uncertainty; the glory and the scandal of the universe! If he is too aspiring and lofty, we can lower and humble him: if too mean and little, we can raise and swell him; to conclude, we can bait him with repugnancies and contradictions, till at length he ap 1 Dans aucun temps il n'a existé de plus grand génie. Bossu, Dictionn. Historique, Art. Pascal. 10 MARQUIS D'ARGENS. prehends himself to be a monster even beyond apprehension 1." But all this is to be understood, as descriptive of man, without the light of revelation, which it is necessary to mention, because I have seen a passage of the same writer very similar to this, referred to, in proof of man's positive and irremediable weakness and misery, very different from the meaning of the author2. The passage to which I allude, is so much to my purpose, that I shall copy it, exactly as it is cited by the Marquis d'Argens, it being a passage well rendered in the old English version: "When I consider the blindness and misery of man, and those amazing contrarieties which discover themselves in his nature; when I observe the whole creation to be silent, and man to be without comfort, abandoned to himself, and as it were strayed into this corner of the universe, neither apprehending by whose means he came hither, nor what is the end of his coming, nor what will befall him at his departure hence, I am struck with the same horror as a person who has been carried in his sleep into a desolate and frightful island, and who awakes without knowing where he is, or by what way he may get out and escape, and upon this view I am at a loss to conceive how so miserable an estate can 1 I take this from an English edition of the "Pensées," published in 1704, but as the French is a language seldom admitting of a translation at all adequate to the original, I subjoin what follows: “Quelle chimere est-ce donc que l'homme? quelle nouveauté, quel chaos! quel sujet de contradiction! juge de toutes choses, imbécile ver de terre, dépositaire du vray, amas d'incertitude; gloire et rebut de l'univers : s'il se vante, je l'abaisse; s'il s'abaisse, je le vante, et le contrédis, toujours jusq' à ce qu'il comprenne qu'il est un monstre incompréhensible."-Sect. xxi. p. 114. 2 Lettres Cabalistiques-par le Marquis d'Argens. Lett. lxxxii. HIS PARTIAL REFERENCE TO PASCAL. 11 produce anything but despair.” Such a passage, cited in the above detached manner, in a work, where, as it has been well observed, "La religion est peu respectée'," but in which there is certainly much display of learning, and curious research, not to say of very sly and insidious wit, must have been intended to make an impression far different from what was meant by the admirable author, whose real design was expressly to show, that blind, and miserable, and incomprehensible as man is by nature, he has not been left without comfort, he has not been wholly abandoned to himself; he has not been left unnoticed in a remote corner of the universe, without the means of apprehending how he came hither, or what is the end of his coming, or what will befall him at his departure hence. The passage in itself is in fact admirable, as a stimulant to man to look out for that help and information which is to be had, if instead of sinking into despair, he be but wise enough to seek for it, where it may be found. Let him dream as much as he will, that he has been carried in his sleep into a desolate and frightful island; let him only allow himself to be awakened by such a Christian as Pascal, and he will soon know not only where he is, but by what way he may get out and escape. But Pascal shall speak for himself; I shall continue the passage which his sly countryman has curtailed for other purposes. "I behold other persons near me of the same nature and constitution; I ask if they are any better informed than myself, and they assure me they are not; immediately after which I take notice that these 1 Dictionnaire Historique, Art. Argens. 12 NATURE LEAVES MAN IN Doubt. unfortunate wanderers having looked about them, and espied certain objects of pleasure, are contented to seek no farther, but swallow the bait, embrace the charm, and fasten themselves down to the enjoyment. For my own part, I can obtain no satisfaction or repose in the society of persons no better than myself, labouring under the same weakness and the same distress-I find they will be able to give me no assistance at my death: I shall be obliged to die alone; and, therefore, I ought to proceed in this respect, as if I lived alone. Now, in a condition of solitude, I would entertain no projects of building: I would perplex myself with none of the tumultuary affairs of life: I would court the esteem of no person; but would devote myself and my pains to the discovery of truth. "Hence, reflecting how probable it seems that there may be something else besides that which now presents itself to my eye, I begin to examine, whether that Supreme and Divine Being, which is so much talked of by all the world, has been pleased to leave any marks or footsteps of himself. I look round on all sides, and see nothing throughout but universal obscurity. Nature offers no consideration but what is the subject of doubt and disquiet. Could I nowhere discern the least token of divinity, I would resolve not to believe at all; could I in every thing trace the image of a Creator, I would rest myself upon a sure and settled belief; but, while I see too much to deny, and too little to give me any certain confidence, my condition renders me an object of pity; and I have a thousand times wished that if nature have indeed a Divine Author and Supporter, she would present us with the lively draught and uncontested character of his being; but, that if the marks she does bear about her FALSE RELIGIONS. 13 are fallacious, she would entirely conceal him from our view; that she would either say all, or say nothing, so as to determine my judgment one way or the other. Whereas, under my present suspense, being ignorant as well of what I am, as of that which is expected of me, I remain an equal stranger to my condition and my duty. In the meantime my heart is absolutely bent on the search of real and solid good, such as, when found, may complete my hopes and regulate my conduct. I should think no price too dear for this acquisition! "I discover a multitude of religions in all countries and times; but they are such as neither please me with their morals, nor move me with their proofs. Thus I would at once reject the religion of Mahomet, of China, of the Egyptians, and of the ancient Romans. "But while I am making my reflections on this strange and unaccountable variety of manners and belief in different countries and periods, I find in one little corner of the world a peculiar people separated from all the nations under heaven, whose registers exceed, by many ages, the most ancient stories now on record. I discover a great and numerous race, who worship ONE GOD, and are governed by a law which they affirm themselves to have received from his hand. The sum of what they maintain is this: that they are the only persons whom God has honoured with the communication of his mysteries; that all other men having corrupted themselves, and merited the divine displeasure, are abandoned to their own sense and imagination; whence arise the endless wanderings and continual altercations amongst them, whether in reli |