A slippery slope

"There is an infinite distance between God’s prohibition of murder and your speculative permission of the crime; but between that [speculative] permission and the practice the distance is very small indeed. . . . .  what is allowable in speculation is also so in practice. . . . .  Such is the wonderful growth attained by the doctrine of probability in general, as well as by every probable opinion in particular, in the course of time.  Attend . . . to what [the Jesuit Escobar] says [(i.e. came eventually openly to admit)]:  'I cannot see how it can be that an action which seems allowable in speculation should not be so likewise in practice; because what may be done in practice depends on what is found to be lawful in speculation, and the things differ from each other only as cause and effect.  Speculation is that which determines to action.  Whence it follows that opinions probable in speculation may be followed with a safe conscience in practice. . . .'
     "Verily, fathers, your friend Escobar reasons uncommonly well sometimes; and, in point of fact, there is such a close connection between speculation and practice, that when the former has once taken root, you have no difficulty in permitting the latter, without any [further] disguise."

     Blaise Pascal, Provincial letters no. 13, trans. M’Crie (GBWW, 1st ed. (1952), vol. 33, p. 103) =pp. 31-32 in tom. 6 of the 1904-1914 critical edition of the Œuvres edited by Brunschvicg, and pp. 728-729 in tom. 1 of the 1998 Pleiade edition of the Œuvres edited by Le Guern.
 

"yield to men what they desire, and give to God [only] words and appearances"

"your ordinary method . . . is to yield to men what they desire, and give the Almighty only words and shows."

"vostre methode ordinaire, qui est d’accorder aux hommes ce qu’ils desirent, et donner à Dieu des paroles et des apparences."

     Blaise Pascal, Provincial letters no. 12, trans. M'Crie (GBWW, 1st ed. (1952), vol. 33, p. 94).  French from p. 374 of tom. 5 of the critical edition of the Œuvres ed. Brunschvicg, and p. 715 of vol. 1 of the 1998 Pleiade edition of the Œuvres ed. Le Guern.
     One might even say that according to Pascal, it should be the official motto of the Jesuits and their like "to attract all and repel none [(attirer tout le monde, et ne rebuter personne, to attract the whole world and repel no one)]" (at the head of no. 10).

Empiricism of a sort

"since God has shown to me a ray of his goodness, I cannot doubt him on the ground that someone has made up some new logical puzzles about him.  It is too late in the day to tell me that God does not exist, the God with whom I have so long conversed, and whom I have seen active in several living men or real sanctity, not to mention the canonised saints."

     Austin Marsden Farrer, "Double thinking," in A celebration of faith (1970), The essential sermons (1991), and The truth-seeking heart:  Austin Farrer and his writings, ed. Ann Loades and Robert McSwain, Canterbury studies in spiritual theology (Norwich:  Canterbury Press, 2006), 197 (196-200).

"May the Jesuits kill the Jansenists?"

"Caramuel, too, our famous champion. . . . examines a great many new questions on this principle, such as the following, for instance:  'May the Jesuits kill the Jansenists? [(SAVOIR SI LES JÉSUITES PEUVENT TUER LES JANSÉNISTES.)]'"

     Blaise Pascal, Provincial letters no. 8, trans. M’Crie.  Pascal has just cited "sa Théologie fondamentale, p. 543."  Unable to find any comment on this in either vol. 5 of the critical Brunschvicg edition of 1904-1914, or vol. 1 of the Le Guern Pléiade edition of 1998, or via quick-and-dirty searches of the full-text in JSTOR and the Atla Religion Database on the French, I reproduce what I’ve found at secs. 1578 (MDLXXVIII) and 1579 (MDLXXIX) in the printing of 1657, albeit not on a p. 543.  (I could find no edition/volume of this work in the Hathi Trust Digital Library containing a p. 543, but have not yet checked, say, Google Books.  Secs. 1578 and 1579 had become secs. 2578 and 2579 in a latter printing, by the way, so variations like that should also be kept in mind.)

p. 444, col. 2 (marginal summaries):

• "An potuerint occidi Ianseniani", Whether the Jansenists can be killed.
• "An Iesuitis Iansenius nocuerit", Whether Jansenius harmed [(defamed)] the Jesuits.

p. 445, col. 1 (marginal summary):

• "Iansenius occidi a Iesuitis non potuit", Jansenius could not be killed by the Jesuits.

p. 445, cols. 1-2 (text above and beside the summary just above):

• The Jansenists accuse the Jesuits of Pelagianism, and [so] I ask first Whether they are calumniators, and second, Whether they can be killed. . . .  And I respond to the second that Jansenius could not be killed when alive, nor can the Jansenists today, who remain.

Raillery (ironia) as an act of justice

"Mock these things in a merciful way in order to show them that they should mock and shun these ideas."

"haec tu misericorditer inride, ut eis inridenda et fugienda commendes".

     St. Augustine, contra Faustum 15.4, trans. Teske (WSA 20, 187; CSEL 25/1, 422 ll. 11-12).  Pascal, Provincial letters, no. 11:  "haec tu misericorditer irride, ut eis ridenda ac fugienda commendes."  Trans. Stothert & Newman in NPNF 4, 214:

"Laugh at these things, while pitying them, to show their falsehood and absurdity."

According to p. 311n6 of tom. 5 of the Bruncschvig edition of the Œuvres of Pascal, the heading is from Hugh of St. Victor's On Genesis.

"Estrange Theologie de nos jours"

"your doctors. . . .  hold that to love God is not necessary to salvation; and go so far as to maintain that 'this dispensation from loving God is the privilege which Jesus Christ has introduced into the world!'  This, sir, is the very climax of impiety.  The price of the blood of Jesus Christ paid to obtain us a dispensation from loving Him!  Before the incarnation, it seems men were obliged to love God; but since 'God has so loved the world as to give His only begotten Son,' the world, redeemed by him, is released from loving Him!  Strange divinity of our days . . . !"

     Blaise Pascal in the Tenth Provincial, trans. M’Crie (GBWW, 1st ed. (1952), vol. 33, p. 80).  Original French on p. 274 of tom. 5 of the Œuvres ed. Brunschvicg.

"se conserver dans l'estime de son Confesseur"

"to begin with the difficulty of confessing certain sins, you are aware it is of importance often to keep in the good graces of one’s confessor; now, must it not be extremely convenient to be permitted, as you are by our doctors, particularly Escobar and Suarez, 'to have two confessors, one for the mortal sins and another for the venial, in order to maintain a fair character with your ordinary confessor—uti bonam famam apud ordinarium tueator—provided you do not take occasion from thence to indulge in mortal sin?'"

     Pascal’s preening Jesuit in the Tenth Provincial, trans. M'Crie (GBWW, 1st ed. (1952), vol. 33, p. 72).  Original French on pp. 251-252 of tom. 5 of the Œuvres ed. Brunschvicg.  The relevant excerpt from Escobar is given on p. 244.

"'a great many things, formerly regarded as forbidden, are [now] permitted,'" nay celebrated

"'our doctors have laboured to discover, in their wisdom, that a great many things, formerly regarded as forbidden, are innocent and allowable....'"

"'nos Peres ont travaillé à découvrir par leur lumiere qu’il y a un grand nombre de choses permises qui passoient autrefois pour defenduës....'"

     Pascal's preening Jesuit at the head of the former's Tenth provincial, as trans. M’Crie (GBWW, 1st ed. (1952), vol. 33, p. 71), the goal of the Jesuits being, according to him, "to 'attract all and repel none [(attirer tout le monde, et ne rebuter personne, to attract the whole world and repel no one)].'"  French from p. 249 of vol. 5 of the critical edition of the Œuvres ed. Brunschvicg.  But of course he is about to proceed to even further such discoveries.

Those Jesuits

Pascal, not Amico!

"'An ecclesiastic or a monk may warrantably kill a defamer who threatens to publish the scandalous crimes of his community, or his own crimes [(gravia crimina de se, vel de sua religione)], when there is no other way of stopping him; if, for instance, he is prepared to circulate his defamations unless promptly despatched.  For, in these circumstances, as the monk would be allowed to kill one who threatened to take his life, he is also warranted to kill him who would deprive him of his reputation or his property, in the same way as the men of the world.'"

     Francesco Amico, S.J. (1578-1651), Cursus theologici, tom. 5 (Duaci:  1642), disp. 36, no. 118, on p. 544, as reproduced in the M’Crie translation of Pascal, Provincial letter no. 7 (GBWW, 1st ed. (1952), vol. 33, p. 52), underscoring mine.  For Pascal’s French, see p. 105 of tom. 5 of the critical edition of the Œuvres edited by Brunschvicg.  Note that this passage, reproduced below from pp. 73-74 of tom. 5 of the latter, appears to be missing from at least the equivalently enumerated paragraph of this printing of 1650.

Unde licebit Clerico, vel religioso calumniatorem gravia crimina de se, vel de sua religione spargere minantem occidere; quando alius defendendi modus non suppetat:  uti suppetere non videtur, si calumniator sit paratus, ea vel ipsi religioso, vel ejus religioni publicè ,ac coram gravissimis viris impingere nisi occidatur.  Nam si in tali casu licitum est religioso, ne ipse occidatur, invasorem prius occidere, si fuga non possit, quia nimirum ante se hostem habet, mortem evadere:  licitum quoque eidem erit, ad vitandam gravissimam sui, suaeque religionis infamiam, si alius modus non suppetat, calumniatorem occidere.  Nam quo jure licitum est saeculari, [etc.] . . .

Note also that I have neither translated this myself nor (obviously) read it in context.