Polytropy

The text of our final reading of Pascal’s Pensées is below in black. The fragments are Sellier 791–813, labelled below by the enumerations of

The last fragment, discovered in 1952, is thus not in Lafuma or Brunschvicg. The rest are Lafuma 956–67, 969, 971–2, 983, 985–91, 993.

Connections

This section is based on an email that I sent to the discussion group. For our final discussion, one participant has proposed looking back also at fragments in our third reading:

• S 230 / L 199 / B 72: “The Disproportion of Man”

• S 231 / L 200 / B 347: “Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature; but he is a thinking reed …”

These are a reason why I wanted to join this group in the first place. I propose to include the continuation,

• S 232 / L 200 / B 347 “All our dignity consists then in thought. That’s how we must elevate ourselves, and not by space and time, which we could never fill. Let us then try to think well: this is the principle of morality.”

Other suggestions may be forthcoming; meanwhile, I propose also to look at some fragments in the last (in the sense of previous) and last (in the sense of final) reading, and in Matthew and the Quran, that may illuminate, or be illuminated by, S 230–2.

I shall also note some fragments from the present reading that may clarify the previous reading. In all then, I’m going to say something about the following (to suggest connections, not to try to say exactly what they are):

• S 756 / L 927
• S 757 / L 930
• S 770 / L 981
• S 770 / L 982
• S 771 / L 974
• S 785
• S 793 / L 958
• S 803 / L 972
• S 804 / L 983
• S 807 / L 987
• S 808 / L 988

Regarding S 231–2, the translation of the Quran by Muhammad Asad (born Leopold Weiss) has the dedication, “For people who think.” This could be, “For people who use their reason,” as in Asad’s own translation of one ayah, 2:164:

Verily, in the creation of the heavens and of the earth, and the succession of night and day: and in the ships that speed through the sea with what is useful to man: and in the waters which God sends down from the sky, giving life thereby to the earth after it had been lifeless, and causing all manner of living creatures to multiply thereon: and in the change of the winds, and the clouds that run their appointed courses between sky and earth: [in all this] there are messages indeed for people who use their reason.

Pascal says that last thing, in a sense, as for example in our last reading,

• S 785 (no Lafuma or Brunschvicg number, since the fragment was discovered in 1962):

  Dieu est caché. Mais il se laisse trouver à ceux qui le cherchent.

  Il y a toujours eu des marques visibles de lui dans tous les temps. Les nôtres sont les prophéties. Les autres temps en ont eu d’autres.

  Toutes ces preuves s’entretiennent toutes. Si l’une est vraie, l’autre l’est. Ainsi chaque temps, ayant eu celles qui lui étaient propres, a connu par celles‑là les autres.

  God is hidden. But he allows himself to be found by those who seek him.

  There have always been visible marks of him, at all times. Ours are the prophecies. Other times have had others.

  All of these proofs support one another. If one is true, so is the other. Thus every time, having its own, has known through them the others.

The theme of the interconnectedness of things is in “The Disproportion of Man” (S 230):

Mais les parties du monde ont toutes un tel rapport et un tel enchaînement l’une avec l’autre que je crois impossible de connaître l’une sans l’autre et sans le tout.

But the parts of the world all have such a relation and connection with one another that I think it impossible to know one without another and the whole.

The same theme was in the last reading also in:

• S 756 / L 927:

  Le moindre mouvement importe à toute la nature : la mer entière change pour une pierre. Ainsi dans la grâce la moindre action importe pour ses suites à tout, donc tout est important.

  The least movement affects all of nature: the whole sea changes for a stone. Thus in grace the least action affects everything by its consequences; therefore everything is important.

  En chaque action il faut regarder outre l’action, à notre état présent, passé, futur et des autres à quoi elle importe. Et voir les liaisons de toutes ces choses et lors on sera bien retenu.

  In each act, we must look beyond the act, to the present, past, and future state of ourselves and others whom it affects; and see the connections among all these things; and then we shall be quite circumspect.

Also from “The Disproportion of Man,” the central question:

Car enfin qu’est‑ce que l’homme dans la nature ? Un néant à l’égard de l’infini, un tout à l’égard du néant, un milieu entre rien et tout, infiniment éloigné de comprendre les extrêmes. La fin des choses et leurs principes sont pour lui invinciblement cachés dans un secret impénétrable, également incapable de voir le néant d’où il est tiré et l’infini où il est englouti.

What is man in nature, in the end? A zero to the infinite, an all to the nothing, a mean between nothing and everything, infinitely far from comprehending the extremes. The end of things, and their principles, are invincibly hidden from him in an impenetrable secret, [he being] equally incapable of seeing the nothing from which he is drawn and the infinite in which he is engulfed.

The theme of first and last, beginning and end, initial and final, principle and aim, is in the last reading,

• S 771 / L 974:

  La vérité est donc la première règle et la dernière fin des choses.

  Truth is therefore the first rule and last end of things.

– And also in the current reading:

• S 808 / L 988:

  Mais il est impossible que Dieu soit jamais la fin, s’il n’est le principe.

  But it is impossible for God ever to be the end, if he is not the principle.

Back again to “The Disproportion of Man”:

Ce milieu qui nous est échu en partage étant toujours distant des extrêmes, qu’importe qu’un autre ait un peu plus d’intelligence des choses?

This milieu that is our lot being ever far from the extremes, what does it matter if somebody should have a little more knowledge of things?

I have noted that Pascal seems to quote from everywhere in the Hebrew and Greek scriptures; from Old Testament, Apocrypha, and New Testament; but not from the Gospels on the practical teachings of Jesus. However, Pascal’s question just above could be answered by the Parable of the Talents, Matthew 25:14–30, according to which, from his infinite wealth, the master leaves us with a little bit, expecting us to use it to get a bit more. What I’m calling “bits” are talents: in Greek, sums of money, or gold. The English language has understood such talents to be “figures,” as Pascal might say, for personal abilities.

On the statement in “The Disproportion of Man,”

Et ce qui achève notre impuissance à connaître les choses est

• qu’elles sont simples en elles‑mêmes et
• que nous sommes composés de deux natures opposées et de divers genres, d’âme et de corps.

And what completes our inability to know things is that

• they are simple in themselves, and
• we are composed of two opposed natures, different in kind, soul and body

– compare in the present reading,

• S 794 / L 959:

  L’union de deux choses sans changement, ne fait point qu’on puisse dire que l’une devient l’autre.

  Ainsi l’âme étant unie au corps,

  Le feu au bois sans changement.

  The union of two things unchanged does not allow us to say that the one becomes the other, as when the soul is united with the body, or the fire with the wood.

Back again to “The Disproportion of Man”:

Bornés en tout genre, cet état qui tient le milieu entre deux extrêmes se trouve en toutes nos puissances. Nos sens n’aperçoivent rien d’extrême … Trop de jeunesse et trop de vieillesse empêche l’esprit ; trop et trop peu d’instruction.

Limited in every way, this state which holds the mean between two extremes is found in all our powers. Our senses perceive no extreme … Too much youth and age hinder the mind, [as do] too much and too little education.

This can explain Pascal’s objection to casuistry, if it derives from one circumstance a moral principle that it applies to another circumstance that is just too different. Thus for example in the last reading:

• S 770 / L 981:

  Autrefois il était difficile d’éviter les péchés, et difficile de les expier. Maintenant, il est facile de les éviter par mille tours et facile de les expier.

  It used to be hard to avoid sins and to expiate them; now it is easy.

In the current reading, S 793 / L 958, we are told that Antonino Diana makes it too hard to commit a mortal sin.

Why does that bother Pascal? Another fragment from the next reading seems relevant,

• S 804 / L 983, quoting Pascal’s friend Artus Gouffier de Roannez:

  Les raisons me viennent après, mais d’abord la chose m’agrée ou me choque, sans en savoir la raison.

  Reasons come to me afterwards, but at first a thing pleases or shocks me without my knowing the reason.

Uniformity and diversity were in S 770 / L 982 and are now in S 807 / L 987. I’d be glad to know if somebody has insight on this, because I have no idea.

We asked about prayer in S 757 / L 930. Brunschvicg numbered that fragment as 513 and followed it with what is now S 803 / L 972, “Those who are poor in grace,” in our current reading. Does this answer any questions?

That new fragment is one case where Pascal does appeal to a practical lesson of Jesus, Matthew 7:

7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

I note however that the original fragment B 514 is relegated to a footnote in the edition of the Trotter translation at Project Gutenberg. The footnote includes some interesting comments:

It is doubtful, however that this fragment should be included in the Pensées, and it has seemed best to separate it from the text. It has only once before appeared – in the edition of Michaut (1896). The first half of it has been freely translated in order to give an interpretation in accordance with a suggestion from M. Emile Boutroux, the eminent authority on Pascal. The meaning seems to be this. In one sense it is in our power to ask from God, who promises to give us what we ask. But, in another sense, it is not in our power to ask; for it is not in our power to obtain the grace which is necessary in asking. We know that salvation is not in our power. Therefore some condition of salvation is not in our power. Now the conditions of salvation are two: (1) The asking for it, and (2) the obtaining it. But God promises to give us what we ask. Hence the obtaining is in our power. Therefore the condition which is not in our power must be the first, namely, the asking. Prayer presupposes a grace which it is not within our power to obtain.

After giving the utmost consideration to the second half of this obscure fragment, and seeking assistance from some eminent scholars, the translator has been compelled to give a strictly literal translation of it, without attempting to make sense.

Thus Trotter on translating Pascal! (I’ve used him as a base for some of the translations above, since I can’t cut and paste from Ariew, and anyway he has been removed from the issuu site as our seminar leader said he might be.)

Contents

The “Fragments not in the Copies” seem mostly to be notes for the Provincial Letters; but I try to note some interesting points.

• Fragment hors Copies

  • 791–740–956–925

• Fragment hors Copies

  • 792–741–957–929

• Fragment hors Copies

  • 793–742–958–928 Concerning the casuist Antonino Diana, who makes it too hard to commit a mortal sin. See the last reading, 770–735–981–918, “It used to be difficult to avoid sins, and difficult to atone for them. Now it is easy to avoid them by any number of tricks, and easy to atone for them.”

• Fragment hors Copies

  • 794–743–959–512 On the uniting of soul with body, of the Word with humanity.

• Fragment hors Copies

  • 795–744–960–75 On the vacuum: how can it be filled, out of horror, since this would require feeling and a principle of movement? Recall from the first reading, 78–44–82, “Imagination,” the question of whether we are fooled by sense or education.

  • (795)–(744)–961–636

• Fragment hors Copies

  • 796–745–962–362 “I am no heretic; I have not maintained the five propositions.”

  • (796)–(745)–(962)–921 “The saints indulge in subtleties to make themselves out to be criminals, and impeach their better actions, and these indulge in subtleties in order to excuse the most wicked ones.”

• Fragment hors Copies

  • 797–746–963–888

• Fragment hors Copies

  • 798–747–964–902 “Contradiction has always been around in order to blind the wicked.” An old theme.

• Fragment hors Copies

  • 799–748–965–940
  • (799)–(748)–966–953

• Fragment hors Copies

  • 800–749–967–889 There are Christians who are like false prophets among the Jews; it doesn’t mean God doesn’t care about the Church, because it was all predicted.

• Fragment hors Copies

  • 801–750–969–926 “We must hear both sides.”

• Fragment hors Copies

  • 802–751–971–654 God can do everything except what being omnipotent prevents, such as dying and being wrong or ignorant; but Jesus did those things as a man.

• Fragment ajouté dans le Recueil le 6 septembre 1864

  • 803–753–972–514 “The poor in grace.” Every one that asketh receiveth; therefore the hard part is the asking. See “Why did God establish prayer?” in the previous reading, 757–723–930–513.

• Fragment connu par le 2^e Recueil Guerrier

  • 804–759–983–276 On reason as following passion.

• Fragment connu par le 2^e Recueil Guerrier

  • 805–761–985–942 Something obscure about probability. As for Diana above, see the last reading, 770–735–981–918, “What would the Jesuits be without probability …?”

• Fragment connu par le 2^e Recueil Guerrier

  • 806–762–986–891 Heretics should know that Jesuit doctrine is not Church doctrine.

• Fragment connu par le 2^e Recueil Guerrier

  • 807–763–987–892 Something obscure about uniformity and diversity. See the last reading, (770)–(735)–982–(918), “We have made uniformity out of diversity, for we are all uniform, in that we have become uniform.”

• Fragment connu par le 2^e Recueil Guerrier

  • 808–764–988–488 “We direct our sight upward, but rest upon the sand.” God is both ways.

• Fragment connu par le 2^e Recueil Guerrier

  • 809–765–989–935 “The Jesuits … have only earned the contempt of God and the world.”

• Fragment connu par le 2^e Recueil Guerrier

  • 810–766–990–948 That judges may be corrupt does make their judgments (as of the Jesuits) corrupt.

• Fragment connu par le 2^e Recueil Guerrier

  • 811–767–991–952 Factions impede the interest of the Church in “preserving the piety of the faithful and converting heretics.”

• Fragment connu par le 2^e Recueil Guerrier

  • 812–769–993–909 Watch out for casuists.

• Annotation dans Réponse d’un ecclésiastique de Louvain

  • 813–754–***–*** The Jesuits cause people to embrace error or swear they have.

Notes préparatoires aux Provinciales.

À quoi sert cela pour consoler les justes et sauver le désespoir ? non, car personne ne peut être en état de se croire juste.

——-

Grâce de M. Cornet, de M.

La censure défend seulement de parler ainsi de saint Pierre, et rien de plus.

Je leur ai bien de l’obligation.

——-

Ce sont d’habiles gens. Ils ont craint que les lettres qu’on écrit aux provinciaux.

——-

Ce n’était pas la peine pour un mot.

——-

Naïveté puérile.

——-

Loué sans être connu.

——-

Je croyais qu’il y avait une opinion contre une opinion.

——-

M. Chamillard serait hérétique, ce qui est une fausseté manifeste car il a écrit pour M. Arnauld.

——-

——-

Saint Augustin en a le plus à cause des divisions de ses ennemis. Outre une chose qu’on peut considérer qui est une tradition sans interruption de 12 000 ans papes, conciles, etc.

——-

Notes préparatoires à la XVII^e Provinciale.

Et on se dispose à chasser de l’Église ceux qui refusent cet aveu.

que si le sens condamné de ces propositions est dans Jansénius,

L’Eglise peut bien obliger.

Clement VIII.

Si quis dixerit.

qu’à un hérétique.

——-

Qui m’en veut de montrer que tout cela est de vos auteurs jusqu’aux plus horribles ?

——-

N’avez-vous que cela à répondre, et que cette manière de le prouver ?

Un corps de réprouvés.

——-

On ouvrirait tous les troncs de saint Merry, sans que vous en fussiez moins innocents.

——-

Et

——-

Après Pelage.

——-

Aussi cela n’est pas étrange. Faux droit. Baronius.

——-

Pour moi, j’aimerais mieux être imposteur que, etc.

——-

Je vous répondrais des choses qui ne plairaient ni à vous ni à d’autres.

——-

Notes préparatoires aux Provinciales.

Diana. 11.

The idea was in the last reading, 770–735–981–918:

Autrefois il était difficile d’éviter les péchés, et difficile de les expier. Maintenant, il est facile de les éviter par mille tours et facile de les expier.

Notes préparatoires à la Préface au Traité du vide

Conjecture : il ne sera pas difficile de faire descendre encore d’un degré et de la faire paraître ridicule.

Recall from the first reading, 78–44–82, Imagination:

« Parce, dit‑on, que vous avez cru dès l’enfance qu’un coffre était vide lorsque vous n’y voyiez rien, vous avez cru le vide possible. C’est une illusion de vos sens, fortifiée par la coutume, qu’il faut que la science corrige. » – Et les autres disent « Parce qu’on vous a dit dans l’École qu’il n’y a point de vide, on a corrompu votre sens commun, qui le comprenait si nettement avant cette mauvaise impression, qu’il faut corriger en recourant à votre première nature. » – Qui a donc trompé : les sens ou l’instruction ?

Notes préparatoires aux Provinciales.

——-

Je n’ai point tout dit, vous le verrez bien.

——-

Vous me menacez.

Ex senatusconsultis et plebiscitis.

Demander des passages pareils.

Puisque vous n’avez touché que cela, c’est approuver tout le reste.

Je suis bien aise que vous publiez la même chose que moi.

Et la – St Paul Ex contentione. Saint Paul.

Parum est.

Elidere. Caramuel.

Je veux vous le dire à vous-mêmes afin que cela ait plus de force.

——-

Ceux qui examinent les livres, je suis sûr de leur approbation. Mais ceux qui ne lisent que les titres, et ceux-là sont le plus grand nombre, ceux-là pourraient croire sur votre parole. Il faut  …  que des religieux fussent imposteurs. On a déjà désabusé les nôtres par la force des citations. Il faut désabuser les autres par elidere.

Ce n’est pas que je ne vois combien vous êtes embarrassés, car si vous vouliez vous dédire cela serait fait, mais, etc.

In the bull called “Cum Occasione,” Pope Innocent X stated the five propositions:

1. Some commands of God are impossible to just men, though willing and endeavouring (to fulfil them), according to the strength they possess at present; the grace also is deficient, by which they may become possible.

2. Inward grace in the state of fallen nature is never resisted.

3. To merit and to demerit in a state of fallen nature, freedom from necessity is not required in man, but freedom from compulsion is sufficient.

4. The Semipelagians admitted the necessity of preventing inward grace for single acts, even for the beginning of faith, and in this they were heretics, that they would have it that that grace was such, as human will might resist or comply with.

5. It is semipelagian to say, that Christ died or shed his blood for all men entirely.

We saw the five propositions mentioned first in the sixth reading, 435–855–834:

Cette maison est de Dieu, car il y fait d’étranges miracles.

Les autres : Cette maison n’est point de Dieu, car on n’y croit pas que les cinq propositions soient dans Jansénius. Lequel est le plus clair ?

Then in the seventh reading, 443–881–850:

Les cinq propositions condamnées, point de miracle. Car la vérité n’était point attaquée, mais la Sorbonne, mais la bulle …

Finally, in the ninth reading, 596–700–880–831, briefly:

Les cinq propositions étaient équivoques, elles ne le sont plus.

Je prie qu’on me fasse la justice de ne plus les croire sur leur parole.

Notes préparatoires aux Provinciales.

Notes préparatoires aux Provinciales.

Notes préparatoires aux Provinciales.

Lettre des établissements violents des jésuites partout.

Aveuglement surnaturel.

——-

Cette morale qui a en tête un Dieu crucifié.

——-

Voilà ceux qu[i] ont fait vœu d’obéir tamquam Christo.

——-

La décadence des jésuites.

Notes préparatoires aux Provinciales.

puisque tout le corps de la hiérarchie, en étant exempt, le rejetant, tant s’en faut que tout ce qui se passe aujourd’hui témoigne que l’Église en est infectée, il y a bien plus sujet de conclure qu’elle n’en est point infectée par la résistance que toute la hiérarchie y oppose que de conclure.

qu’on la sollicite si puissamment de recevoir, et qu’elle refuse avec tant de vigueur et de constance que par la résistance universelle qu’elle fait de consentir aux impiétés qu’on la sollicite si fortement de recevoir.

Clean version of the last paragraph:

Car si quelques‑uns de ces hommes qui par une vocation extraordinaire ont fait profession de sortir du monde et de prendre l’habit de religieux, pour vivre dans un état plus parfait que le commun des chrétiens, sont tombés dans des égarements qui font horreur au commun des chrétiens et sont devenus entre nous ce que les faux prophètes étaient entre les Juifs, c’est un malheur particulier et personnel, qu’il faut à la vérité déplorer, dont on ne peut rien conclure contre le soin que Dieu prend de son Église, puisque toutes ces choses sont si clairement prédites et qu’il a été annoncé depuis si longtemps que ces tentations s’élèveraient de la part de ces sortes de personnes, que quand on est bien instruit on voit plutôt en cela des marques de la conduite de Dieu que de son oubli à notre égard.

Notes préparatoires aux Provinciales.

Probable.

Notes préparatoires aux Provinciales.

God cannot die, or be ignorant; but Jesus professes ignorance and dies.

Matthew 24:

34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Pauvres de la grâce.

Brunschvicg put this fragment after the one beginning Pourquoi Dieu a établi la prière ? in the previous reading, 757–723–930–513. However, it is relegated the notes in the 1958 Dutton edition of Trotter’s translation (with introduction by T. S. Eliot), which is available from Project Gutenberg, and which uses the Brunschvicg enumeration through 513. The notes say,

In the French edition on which this translation is based there was inserted the following fragment after No. 513:

“Work out your own salvation with fear.”

Proofs of prayer. Petenti dabitur.

Therefore it is in our power to ask. On the other hand, there is God. So it is not in our power, since the obtaining of (the grace) to pray to Him is not in our power. For since salvation is not in us, and the obtaining of such grace is from Him, prayer is not in our power.

The righteous man should then hope no more in God, for he ought not to hope, but to strive to obtain what he wants.

Let us conclude then that, since man is now unrighteous since the first sin, and God is unwilling that he should thereby not be estranged from Him, it is only by a first effect that he is not estranged.

Therefore, those who depart from God have not this first effect without which they are not estranged from God, and those who do not depart from God have this first effect. Therefore, those whom we have seen possessed for some time of grace by this first effect, cease to pray, for want of this first effect.

Then God abandons the first in this sense.

It is doubtful, however that this fragment should be included in the Pensées, and it has seemed best to separate it from the text. It has only once before appeared—in the edition of Michaut (1896). The first half of it has been freely translated in order to give an interpretation in accordance with a suggestion from M. Emile Boutroux, the eminent authority on Pascal. The meaning seems to be this. In one sense it is in our power to ask from God, who promises to give us what we ask. But, in another sense, it is not in our power to ask; for it is not in our power to obtain the grace which is necessary in asking. We know that salvation is not in our power. Therefore some condition of salvation is not in our power. Now the conditions of salvation are two: (1) The asking for it, and (2) the obtaining it. But God promises to give us what we ask. Hence the obtaining is in our power. Therefore the condition which is not in our power must be the first, namely, the asking. Prayer presupposes a grace which it is not within our power to obtain.

After giving the utmost consideration to the second half of this obscure fragment, and seeking assistance from some eminent scholars, the translator has been compelled to give a strictly literal translation of it, without attempting to make sense.

Looking now at the French text, I think the title, “Those poor in grace,” may allude to the first of the beatitudes, whether in Matthew 5:3 (“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”) or Luke 6:20 (“Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God”). See the previous reading, 766–731–941–264 (sans la faim des choses spirituelles on s’en ennuie).

Concerning Petenti dabitur: The Vulgate has, for the beginning both of Matthew 7:8 and of Luke 11:10, Omnis enim qui petit, accipit (πᾶς γὰρ ὁ αἰτῶν λαμβάνει). Tertullian has petenti enim dabitur (Aalders, G. J. D., “Tertullian’s Quotations from ST Luke,” Mnemosyne, vol. 5, no. 4, 1937, pp. 241–282, JSTOR, accessed 3 June 2021).

Matthew 7 begins with “Judge not; neither cast ye your pearls before swine; ask, and it shall be given you”:

JUDGE not, that ye be not judged.
2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.
6 ¶ Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.
7 ¶ Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
9 Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?
10 Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.

Luke 11:

AND it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.
2 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.
5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;
6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?
7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.
8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.
9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

Mark 11:

20 And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.
21 And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.
22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

That last verse is not included in the RSV, but appears in Matthew 6:

TAKE heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

See the previous reading, 770–735–981–918,

Que serait‑ce que les Jésuites sans la probabilité et que la probabilité sans les Jésuites ?

Otez la probabilité, on ne peut plus plaire au monde. Mettez la probabilité, on ne peut plus lui déplaire. Autrefois il était difficile d’éviter les péchés, et difficile de les expier. Maintenant, il est facile de les éviter par mille tours et facile de les expier.

I quoted the last part of this above under 793–742–958–928, “Diana.”

See the previous reading, (770)–(735)–982–(918):

Nous avons fait l’uniformité de la diversité, car nous sommes tous uniformes, en ce que nous sommes tous devenus uniformes.

Compare from the third reading, 230–199–72, Disproportion de l’homme:

Que fera‑t‑il donc sinon d’apercevoir [quelque] apparence du milieu des choses dans un désespoir éternel de connaître ni leur principe ni leur fin ? Toutes choses sont sorties du néant et portées jusqu’à l’infini. Qui suivra ces étonnantes démarches ? L’auteur de ces merveilles les comprend. Tout autre ne le peut faire.

Les jésuites.

Texte découvert par P. Jansen en 1952.

Copy-edited January 11, 2022