Blaise Pascal

Blaise Pascal was a mathematician and physicist of the first rank — a pioneer of the theory of probability and the builder of a calculating machine. On the night of 23 November 1654 he underwent an experience he recorded on a small sheet of parchment, which he then carried sewn into his clothing. It was found only after his death. This is the document, in the translation published by Kegan Paul (1885); the words are Pascal’s own, set down that night.

This year of Grace 1654, Monday, November 23rd, day of Saint Clement, pope and martyr, and others in the martyrology, Eve of Saint Chrysogonus, martyr, and others; From about half past ten at night, to about half after midnight, Fire. God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, Not of the philosophers and the wise. Security, security. Feeling, joy, peace. God of Jesus Christ … Thy God shall be my God. Forgetfulness of the world and of all save God. He can be found only in the ways taught in the Gospel. Greatness of the human soul. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee, but I have known thee. Joy, joy, joy, tears of joy.Pascal’s “Memorial,” 23 November 1654 (tr. Kegan Paul, 1885)

The editor of the 1885 edition describes how the paper came to light.

A few days after Pascal’s death, a servant discovered this profession sewed into a fold of his master’s waistcoat, pourpoint. It was written on parchment, with a copy on paper. His family believed that he had carefully placed this in each new garmentNote to Pascal’s “Memorial” (Kegan Paul, 1885)

After that night Pascal drew closer to the community of Port-Royal and devoted himself to religious writing, including the Provincial Letters and the notes published after his death as the Pensées. He was born at Clermont in 1623 and died at Paris in 1662, at the age of thirty-nine.