BLAISE PASCAL AND GOD

"Let him contemplate all nature in its awful and finished magnificence; let him observe that splendid luminary, set forth as an eternal lamp to enlighten the universe; let him view the earth as a mere speck within the vast circuit described by that luminary; let him think with amazement, that this vast circuit itself is only a minute point , compared with that formed by the revolutions of the stars...All that we see in of the creation, is but an almost imperceptible streak in the vast expanse of the universe. No idea can approximate its immense extent...This is an infinite sphere, the center of which is everywhere, but its circumference nowhere. In short, it is one of the greatest sensible evidences of the almightiness of God, that our imagination is overwhelmed by these reflections."
(Pascal, 2)

"Let man reverting to himself, consider what he is compared with all that exists. Let him behold himself a wanderer in this secluded province of nature, and by what he can see from the little dungeon in which he finds himself lodged, (I mean the visible universe), let him learn to make a right estimate of the earth, its kingdoms, its cities and himself."
(Ibid, 2-3)

"All things have sprung from nothing and are borne forward to infinity. Who can follow out such an astonishing career? The Author of these wonders, and He alone, can comprehend them."
(Ibid, 5)

"The stoics said, retire into yourselves, there you will find repose: but this was not true;-others said, Go out of yourselves and seek for happiness in amusement: and this ,too, was wrong. There are diseases ready to destroy these delusions: happiness can be found neither in ourselves nor in external things, but in God and in ourselves as united to Him."
(Ibid, 11-12)

"I perceive it is possible I might not have existed, for my essence consists in the thinking principle; therefore I, this thinking being, should never have existed, had my mother been killed before I was animated:- then I am not a necessary being. Nor am I eternal or infinite, but I see plainly, that there is in  nature , a necessary, eternal, and infinite Being."
(Ibid, 13)
__________________________________

 Pascal, B. Thoughts on Religion and Philosophy. Edimburgh: Otto Schultz and Co.