Old
Testament he had an especial liking for Jeremiah and Isaiah. And once
he bought a cheap print of Jeremiah which he tacked on the wall of his
cellar. From the Khedivial Library MS. we give two excerpts relating
to Pascal and this Prophet.

"O Monsieur Pascal,

"I tried hard to hate and detest myself, as you advise, and I
found that I could not by so doing love God. 'Tis in loving the
divine in Man, in me, in you, that we rise to the love of our
Maker. And in giving your proofs of the true religion, you speak
of the surprising measures of the Christian Faith, enjoining man
to acknowledge himself vile, base, abominable, and obliging him
at the same time to aspire towards a resemblance of his Maker.
Now, I see in this a foreshadowing of the theory of evolution,
nay a divine warrant for it. Nor is it the Christian religion
alone which unfolds to man the twofold mystery of his nature;
others are as dark and as bright on either side of the pole. And
Philosophy conspiring with Biology will not consent to the
apotheosis of Man, unless he wear on his breast a symbol of his
tail.... _Au-revoir_, Monsieur Pascal, Remember me to St.
Augustine."

"O Jeremiah,

"Thy picture, sitting among the ruins of the City of Zion,
appeals to my soul. Why, I know not. It may be because I myself
once sat in that posture among the ruins of my native City of
Baal. But the ruins did not grieve me as did the uncle who
slammed the door in my face that night. True, I wept in the
ruins, but not over them. Something else had punctured the
bladderets of my tears. And who knows who punctured thine, O
Jeremiah? Perhaps a daughter of Tamar had stuck a bodkin in
thine eye, and in lamenting thine own fate--Pardon me, O
Jeremiah. Melikes not all these tears of thine. Nor did Zion and
her children in Juhannam, I am sure.... Instead of a scroll in
thy hand, I would have thee hold a harp. Since King David, Allah
has not thought of endowing his prophets with musical talent.
Why, think what an honest prophet could accomplish if his
message were put into music. And withal, if he himself could
sing it. Yes, our modern Jeremiahs should all take music
lessons; for no matter how deep and poignant our sorrows, we can
always rise from them, harp in hand, to an ecstasy, joyous and
divine."

Now, connect with this the following from the _Histoire Intime_, and
you have the complete history of