right, for who would not have a horror of holding opinions in which he
would have such contemptible persons as companions!

    Thus those who only feign these opinions would be very unhappy, if
they restrained their natural feelings in order to make themselves the
most conceited of men. If, at the bottom of their heart, they are
troubled at not having more light, let them not disguise the fact;
this avowal will not be shameful. The only shame is to have none.
Nothing reveals more an extreme weakness of mind than not to know
the misery of a godless man. Nothing is more indicative of a bad
disposition of heart than not to desire the truth of eternal promises.
Nothing is more dastardly than to act with bravado before God. Let
them then leave these impieties to those who are sufficiently ill-bred
to be really capable of them. Let them at least be honest men, if they
cannot be Christians. Finally, let them recognise that there are two
kinds of people one can call reasonable; those who serve God with
all their heart because they know Him, and those who seek Him with all
their heart because they do not know Him.

    But as for those who live without knowing Him and without
seeking Him, they judge themselves so little worthy of their own care,
that they are not worthy of the care of others; and it needs all the
charity of the religion which they despise, not to despise them even
to the point of leaving them to their folly. But because this religion
obliges us always to regard them, so long as they are in this life, as
capable of the grace which can enlighten them, and to believe that
they may, in a little time, be more replenished with faith than we
are, and that, on the other hand, we may fall into the blindness
wherein they are, we must do for them what we would they should do for
us if we were in their place, and call upon them to have pity upon
themselves, and to take at least some steps in the endeavour to find
light. Let them give to reading this some of the hours which they
otherwise employ so uselessly; whatever aversion they may bring to the
task, they will perhaps gain something, and at least will not lose
much. But as for those who bring to the task perfect sincerity and a
real desire to meet with truth, those I hope will be satisfied and
convinced of the proofs of a religion so divine, which I have here
collected, and in which I have followed somewhat after this order...

    195. Before entering into the proofs of the Christian religion,
I find it necessary to point out the sinfulness of those men who
live in indifference to the search for truth in a matter which is so
important to them, and which touches them so nearly.

    Of all their errors, this doubtless is the one which most convicts
them of foolishness and blindness, and in which it is easiest to
confound them by the first glimmerings of common sense and by
natural feelings.

    For it is not to be doubted that the duration of this life is
but a moment; that the state of death is eternal, whatever may be
its nature; and that thus all our actions and thoughts must take
such different directions, according to the state of that eternity,
that it is impossible to take one step with sense and judgement,
unless we regulate our course by the truth of that point which ought
to be our ultimate end.

    There is nothing clearer than this; and thus, according to the
principles of reason, the conduct of men is wholly unreasonable, if
they do not take another course.

    On this point, therefore, we condemn those who live without
thought of the ultimate end of life, who let themselves be guided by
their own inclinations and their own pleasures without reflection
and without concern, and, as if they could annihilate eternity by
turning away their thought from it, think only of making themselves
happy for the moment.

    Yet this eternity exists, and death, which must open into it and
threatens them every hour, must in a little time infallibly put them
under the dreadful necessity of being either annihilated or unhappy
for ever, without knowing which of these eternities is for ever
prepared for them.

    This is a doubt of terrible consequence. They are in peril of
eternal woe and thereupon, as if the matter were not worth the
trouble, they neglect to inquire whether this is one of those opinions
which people receive with too credulous a facility, or one of those
which, obscure in themselves, have a very firm, though hidden,
foundation. Thus they know not whether there be truth or falsity in
the matter, nor whether there be strength or weakness in the proofs.
They have them before their eyes; they refuse to look at them; and
in that ignorance they choose all that is necessary to fall into
this misfortune if it exists, to await death to make trial of it,
yet to be very content in this state, to make profession of it, and
indeed to boast of it. Can we think seriously of the importance of
this subject without being horrified at conduct so extravagant?

    This resting in ignorance is a monstrous thing, and they who
pass their life in it must be made to feel its extravagance and
stupidity, by having it shown to them, so that they may be
confounded by the sight of their folly. For this is how men reason,
when they choose to live in such ignorance of what they are and
without seeking enlightenment. "I know not," they say...

    196. Men lack heart; they would not make a friend of it.

    197. To be insensible to the extent of despising interesting
things, and to become insensible to the point which interests us most.