tant than scientific
matters, the whole personality is involved.

We cannot quite understand any of the parts, fragmentary as they are,
without some understanding of the whole. Capital, for instance, is his
analysis of the _three orders_: the order of nature, the order of mind,
and the order of charity. These three are _discontinuous_; the higher is
not implicit in the lower as in an evolutionary doctrine it would be.[D]
In this distinction Pascal offers much about which the modern world
would do well to think. And indeed, because of his unique combination
and balance of qualities, I know of no religious writer more pertinent
to our time. The great mystics like St. John of the Cross, are
primarily for readers with a special determination of purpose; the
devotional writers, such as St. Francois de Sales, are primarily for
those who already feel consciously desirous of the love of God; the
great theologians are for those interested in theology. But I can think
of no Christian writer, not Newman even, more to be commended than
Pascal to those who doubt, but who have the mind to conceive, and the
sensibility to feel, the disorder, the futility, the meaninglessness,
the mystery of life and suffering, and who can only find peace through a
satisfaction of the whole being.

[D] An important modern theory of discontinuity, suggested partly by
Pascal, is sketched in the collected fragments of _Speculations_ by
T. E. Hulme (Kegan Paul).

T. S. ELIOT.

CONTENTS

Page
INTRODUCTION By T. S. Eliot vii
SECTION
I. THOUGHTS ON MIND AND ON STYLE 1
II. THE MISERY OF MAN WITHOUT GOD 14
III. OF THE NECESSITY OF THE WAGER 52
IV. OF THE MEANS OF BELIEF 71
V. JUSTICE AND THE REASON OF EFFECTS 83
VI. THE PHILOSOPHERS 96
VII. MORALITY AND DOCTRINE 113
VIII. THE FUNDAMENTALS OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION 152
IX. PERPETUITY 163
X. TYPOLOGY 181
XI. THE PROPHECIES 198
XII. PROOFS OF JESUS CHRIST 222
XIII. THE MIRACLES 238
XIV. APPENDIX: POLEMICAL FRAGMENTS 257
NOTES