Cathedra Book 3: Pascal's PENSÉES
A selection from the third book in the Castalia Cathedra series
The third book in the Castalia Cathedra series of leatherbound Christian titles is PENSÉES by Blaise Pascal.
THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION
... Men blaspheme what they do not know. The Christian religion consists in two points. It is of equal concern to men to know them, and it is equally dangerous to be ignorant to them. And it is equally of God’s mercy that He has given indications of both.
And yet they take occasion to conclude that one of these points does not exist, from that which should have caused them to infer the other. The sages who have said there is only one God have been persecuted, the Jews were hated, and still more the Christians. They have seen by the light of nature that if there be a true religion on earth, the course of all things must tend to it as to a centre.
The whole course of things must have for its object the establishment and the greatness of religion. Men must have within them feelings suited to what religion teaches us. And, finally, religion must so be the object and centre to which all things tend, that whoever knows the principles of religion can give an explanation both of the whole nature of man in particular, and of the whole course of the world in general.
And on this ground they take occasion to revile the Christian religion, because they misunderstand it. They imagine that it consists simply in the worship of a God considered as great, powerful, and eternal; which is strictly deism, almost as far removed from the Christian religion as atheism, which is its exact opposite. And thence they conclude that this religion is not true, because they do not see that all things concur to the establishment of this point, that God does not manifest Himself to men with all the evidence which He could show.
But let them conclude what they will against deism, they will conclude nothing against the Christian religion, which properly consists in the mystery of the Redeemer, who, uniting in Himself the two natures, human and divine, has redeemed men from the[Pg 153] corruption of sin in order to reconcile them in His divine person to God.
The Christian religion, then, teaches men these two truths; that there is a God whom men can know, and that there is a corruption in their nature which renders them unworthy of Him. It is equally important to men to know both these points; and it is equally dangerous for man to know God without knowing his own wretchedness, and to know his own wretchedness without knowing the Redeemer who can free him from it. The knowledge of only one of these points gives rise either to the pride of philosophers, who have known God, and not their own wretchedness, or to the despair of atheists, who know their own wretchedness, but not the Redeemer.
And, as it is alike necessary to man to know these two points, so is it alike merciful of God to have made us know them. The Christian religion does this; it is in this that it consists.
We understand that some subscribers are concerned that they have not yet received their first Cathedra book. This is completely understandable, but the delay was due to circumstances beyond our control, namely, problems at the US bindery we have been using to bind our books for the last six years.
Fortunately, this is exactly why we established our own bindery, which is just now entering full operational status. The Chesterton books have already been printed, the leathers have already been received, and we expect to start binding them in February. Thanks to our new machine, which increases our capacity by 20x, we expect to make rapid headway on our backlog, including both Cathedra books.
The good news is that the delay now means that both the first and second Cathedra books will now be bound in high-quality pigskin.
To obtain a leatherbound edition of PRAYER AND THE CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE by St. Thomas Aquinas, subscribe to Castalia Cathedra.
For questions about subscription status and billings: library@castaliahouse.com
For questions about shipping and missing books: shipping@castaliahouse.com
Hurray! Is this where Pascal's wager comes from? Someone explained that to me very young and the concept carried me through so much. A beautiful conceptualization of faith in practice!
Looking forward to receiving the first Cathedra publication so it can sit on my shelves with the growing Castalia library. I take great joy in sitting in my home office reading and looking at the beautiful the beautiful books as well as reading them.