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[187] P. 137, l. 28. I came to bring fire and the sword.—Luke xii, 49.
[188] P. 138, l. 2. Pharisee and the Publican.—Parable in Luke xviii, 9-14.
[190] P. 138, l. 17. Sub te erit appetitus tuus.—Genesis iv, 7.
[191] P. 140, l. 1. It is, etc.—A discussion on the Eucharist.
[192] P. 140, l. 34. Non sum dignus.—Luke vii, 6.
[193] P. 140, l. 35. Qui manducat indignus.—I Cor. xi, 29.
[194] P. 140, l. 36. Dignus est accipere.—Apoc. iv, II.
[195] P. 141. 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.
[196] P. 141, l. 14. Lord, when saw we, etc.—Matthew xxv, 37.
[197] P. 143, l. 19. Qui justus est, justificetur adhuc.—Apoc. xxii, II.
[199] P. 144, l. 15. Corrumpunt mores, etc.—I Cor. xv, 33.
[200] P. 145. l. 25. Quod curiositate, etc.—St. Augustine, Sermon CXLI.
[201] P. 146, l. 34. Quia ... facere.—I Cor. i, 21.
[202] P. 148, l. 7. Turbare semetipsum.—John xi, 33. The text is turbavit seipsum.
[203] P. 148, l. 25. My soul is sorrowful even unto death.—Mark xiv, 34.
[204] P. 149, l. 3. Eamus. Processit.—John xviii, 4. But eamus does not occur. See, however, Matthew xxvi, 46.
[205] P. 150, l. 36. Eritis sicut, etc.—Genesis iv, 5.
[206] P. 151, l. 2. Noli me tangere.—John xx, 17.
[207] P. 156, l. 14. Vere discipuli, etc.—Allusions to John viii, 31, i, 47; viii, 36; vi, 32.
[208] P. 158, l. 41. Signa legem in electis meis.—Is. viii, 16. The text of the Vulgate is in discipulis meis.
[209] P. 159, l. 2. Hosea.—xiv, 9.
[210] P. 159, l. 13. Saint John.—xii, 39.
[211] P. 160, l. 17. Tamar.—Genesis xxxviii, 24-30.
[212] P. 160, l. 17. Ruth.—Ruth iv, 17-22.
[213] P. 163, l. 13. History of China.—A History of China in Latin had been published in 1658.
