PASCAL: The Provincial Letters

The Provincial Letters are 18 letters written by Blaise Pascal during the years 1656 and 1657. The Letters are primarily concerned with the formulary controversy. The formulary controversy revolved around the Jansenists’ defiance of the Pope’s declaration that Jansenist beliefs concerning the nature of man and grace were heretical.

PASCAL: Treatise on the Arithmetical Triangle

Treatise on the Arithmetical Triangle by Pascal

Proportions and Consequences of the Arithmetical Triangle

• First Consequence: “In every arithmetical triangle all the cells of the first parallel row and of the first perpendicular row are the same as the generating cell.”

PASCAL: Pensées [Numbers 607-610, 613, 619-620, 631, 640, 644, 673, 675, 684, 692-693, 737, 760, 768, 792-793]

Pensées by Pascal

607 – Jews and Christians

• Carnal Jews believe that the Messiah would be a temporal prince. Carnal Christians believe that the Messiah gave us sacraments which will do everything without our help. These two sects are both mistaken. True Jews and true Christians believe that the Messiah makes them love God, and triumph over their enemies by their love of God.

PASCAL: Pensées [Numbers 416, 418, 425, 430, 434-435, 463, 491, 525-531, 538, 543, 547, 553, 556, 564, 571, 586, 598]

Pensées by Pascal

416 – Greatness and Wretchedness

• Wretchedness is deduced from greatness and vice versa. The more one proves the greatness of man, the more one proves the wretchedness of man.

PASCAL: Pensées [Numbers 194-195, 219, 229, 233-234, 242, 273, 277, 282, 289, 298, 303, 320, 323, 325, 330-331, 374, 385, 392, 395-397, 409, 412-413]

Pensées by Pascal

194 – Life After Death

• Christianity does not claim that men have a clear view of God. It claims that men are estranged from God and are in darkness. Thus, it is not discrediting to Christianity to assert that there is nothing in this world which demonstrates the existence of God. God has created visible signs of His existence to make Himself known to those who seek Him, and He also has disguised these visible signs from those who turn away from Him.