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Blaise Pascal The Provincial Letters The translation is that
of Rev. Dr. Thomas M’Crie D.D., Professor of Divinity, Edinburgh and was
published in New York by Robert Carter & Brothers, 1853. Introductory note This book collects
Pascal’s memorable series of public attacks on the casuistry used by Jesuit
confessors during the 17th century. These letters forced the
Vatican to condemn the Jesuits’ systematic laxity. The use of such casuistry
is, of course, near universal among Catholic priests today. The 18-letter series
was published during 1656 and 1657 under the pseudonym Louis de Montalte and
incensed Louis XIV, whose conscience was under the sway of a Jesuit
confessor, Annat, to whom the final letters were addressed. Louis ordered in
1660 that the book be shredded and burnt. The final letter defied the Pope
himself, provoking Alexander VII to condemn the letters (September 6, 1657).
But that didn’t stop all of educated France from reading them. Even Pope
Alexander, while publicly opposing them, nonetheless was persuaded by
Pascal’s arguments. He condemned the laxism of the Jesuits just a few years later (1665–66). The documents
can be read here
of Alexander and Innocent XI condemning lists of scandalous principles of the
Jesuit casuists, many of which principles had been specified and denounced by
Pascal in these letters. The first two letters
were released to the French public in an attempt to stave off the censure by
the theological faculty of the Sorbonne of the Jansenist theologian Antoine
Arnauld, who had made statements regarding the fall of Peter and the orthodoxy
of Jansen that the Jesuits were determined to have censured by a majority
vote, pursuing any ridiculous scheme they could invent to that end. These
first letters explain Jansenist teaching regarding the new theological phrases
of “proximate power” and “sufficient grace”, which the Jesuits and the
Dominicans had agreed to use in different ways to give a false impression of
agreement. Pascal pointed out that the Dominicans actually agreed with the
Jansenists on the concepts behind the words while cowardly pretending to
agree with the Jesuits and while joining with them to denounce the Jansenists
as heretics for refusing to pay lip service to the phrases. Pascal warned
that the Dominicans were compromising their duty to defend the doctrine of
efficacious grace from the Jesuit Molinists and that the duty would thus pass
to the Jansenists. After the censure,
Pascal went on the offensive and began an assault on the Jesuits’ casuistry.
He was forced to deal also with the constant slander of the Jesuits against
the Jansenists. The last two letters defend Jansen’s Augustinus as
deliberately misrepresented to Rome by the Jesuits and vindicate the
Jansenists’ approach to that book as orthodox. Pascal’s method of
framing his arguments was clever: the Provincial Letters pretended to be
the report of a Parisian to a friend in the provinces on the moral and
theological issues then exciting the intellectual and religious circles in
the capital. Pascal, combining the fervor of a convert with the wit and
polish of a man of the world, reached a new level of style in French prose. Aside
from their religious influence, the Lettres provinciales were popular
as a literary work. Pascal’s use of humor, mockery and satire in his
arguments made the letters ripe for public consumption, and influenced the
prose of later French writers like Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Wide
praise has been given to the Provincial Letters. Voltaire called them
“the best-written book that has yet appeared in France.” And when bishop
Bossuet was asked what book he would rather have written had he not written
his own, he answered, the Provincial Letters of Blaise Pascal. The Provincial Letters of Blaise Pascal Addressed to a
Provincial Gentleman Letter 1
– “Proximate Power” Demystified Letter 2
– “Sufficient Grace” Demystified Reply of
the “Provincial” to the First Two Letters of His Friend – Public Reception
and Encouragement Letter 3
– The Conspiracy Against Arnauld Letter 4
– Actual Grace, Knowledge of Sin and Excuse of Ignorance Letter 5
– Probable Opinion in Absolution Letter 6
– Authorities and the Purpose of Probable Opinion Letter 7
– Direct Intention of the Penitent Letter 8
- Various Cases of Direct Intention – Morality of Different Classes Letter 9
– Absurd Laxity in the Modern Authorities Letter
10 - Confession Addressed
to the Reverend Fathers, the Jesuits Letter
11 – Pascal Defends Ridicule of Jesuit Doctrine Letter
12 – Defends Against Jesuits’ Slander; Alms Giving and Simony Letter
13 – Misquotes and Speculation vs. Practice in Probable Opinion Letter
14 – Murder and Capital Punishment Letter
15 – Jesuit Calumny Letter
16 – Jesuit Slander Addressed
to the Reverend Father Annat, Jesuit Confessor of Louis XIV Letter
17 – Heresy Letter
18 – The Orthodoxy of Jansenius |
Blaise Pascal |
