A Just Defense of Certain Passages, Part 2 · Argument 1
THE former grounds laid concerningT. G. of Lots, Cap. 4. Sect. 4. the Nature of Lots in generall, the Reasons that induce me to allow Lots of this kinde as not euill in themselues, among others are these.
This Tenent seemeth more fearefull than beseemethI. B. Answer. a learned man, who after the turning ouer a wonderfull number of bookes to compile his Historicall and Theologicall Treatise of the Nature and Vse of Lots, setteth downe his Iudgement: Allowing lusorious Lots only as not euill in themselues; whereas he affirmeth them to be lawfull in themselues, p. 266. So that if these games be vsed with due obseruation of all his cautions, why is he fearefull to allow them as good in themselues? How then may a scrupulous man, who remembreth not only his wicked wayes, but his deedsEzek. 36. 11. also that are not good, build vponupon such quagmirie grounds?
Againe; Allowing these games onelyonly as not euill in themselues, doth not manifest that LoueLove of God, which (I doubt not) is in Mr. Gs. heart. For whereas God is glorified by good works, and these gamesMatth. 5. 16. be too too common, and accompanied with many crying sinnes, whereby God is eueryevery where and daily much dishonoured, the LoueLove of God would hauehaveIohn 3. 21. constrained him, if doing truth, to hauehave brought these games to the light, that thereby it might be made manifest, that they are wrought according to God.
Lastly, By this Tenent he sheweth not due Charitie to his Neighbour. For now it is enough for Gamesters to plead; A very learned man holdeth our Gaming to be not euill in it selfe. Therefore they will not seeke further to know whether it be good in it selfe, forgetting that it is written; TheMatth. 3. 10. Axe is put to the root of the trees, therefore eueryevery tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewen downe, and cast into the fire. Is not then hereby his neighbours spirituall danger occasioned?
1. I might demand here, why Mr. B. dealethT. G. Reply. onelyonly with my Tenent, but taketh no notice at all of the aOf Lots, chap. 2.Grounds fore-laid; contrary to *In his Preface.his owne assertion, and my course with him, who deale with and discusse as well his Ground… as his Arguments. But that I let passe.
2. Requesting him bforeign. Vlysses Homericus. Neque cu…m ij sumus, quos vituperare nec inimici quidē possint, nisi ut simul laudent. Plin. ep. 12. l. 3.to forbeare cHonorifica contumelia. Hieron. ad Pamm. & Ocean.his titles, which I neither desire nor deserue, of learned, and very learned, so oft both here and else-where inculcated dQuomodo luctantes antagonistas altius attollunt, quo vehementius illidant. Cypr. epist. 2. lib. 2. Vti contra Plut. de adulat. foreign.to no very good purpose, as before I hauehave shewed: and passing by his gird of turning ouer such a wonderfull number of Books; (for Mr. B. is not, it seemeth, out of his wondring vaine yet) I would faine know of him why he calleth my conclusion, a more fearefull tenent than beseemeth a learned man. For if by fearefull hee meane hideous and horrible, as he may well, if it be as he afterward chargeth it to be, contrary to the LoueLove both of God and Man, that must first be shewed of him; and how soundly hee hath shewed it, shall in the discussion of his charge appeare. If by fearefull he meane timorous, as may seeme the rather by the trembling that hereafter he cha…geth me with, eforeign Arian. Epict. lib. 2. c. 21.I confesse my selfe indeed to be naturally of a timorous disposition. And yet I suppose it no timiditie, but fforeign. Plin. epist. 24. lib. 4. Ex prouidentia timor, ex audacia temeritas provenit. Donat. ad Eunuch. 4. 6. Ego Plinio accedo ep. 17. l. 5. Nescio quo p…cto magis in stud…js homines timor, quàm fiducia decet.discretion rather for a man to speake gforeign Zeno apud Laert. & Euslath. ad Odyss. foreign.warily. Nor is *Haud insulsum est illud Martini Dumiens. de mor. c. 1. Lauda parcè, vitupera percius. Aequè enim repr…l easibilis est nimia laudatio, & immoderata vituperatio.he necessarily fearefull that doth not by and by cry out as Mr. B. doth of impious iniquitie, when ought is allowed that he disliketh: or that doth not by and by commend eueryevery thing as exceeding good and godly that he iustifieth and alloweth as lawfull. But to speake moderately belike is a fault and fearfulnesse with Mr. B. which I was not aware of before.
3. Examine we the ground of this prolix and fearefull Accusation, and we shall finde it to be but as they say of the sheering of Swine, much clamor and little wooll, *Verbis veget, rebus flaccet. Apul. apolog.many words indeed, but little matter of any worth. The maine matter of the Charge is this, Mr. G. alloweth Lusorious Lots onelyonly as not euill in themselues. Where the word, onelyonly, is Mr. Bs. insertion; which if he added for this end, as it seemeth he did, to make my words beare this sense, not euill onelyonly, yet not lawfull, and warrantable neither, I disclaime it. Otherwise I confesse I conceiue my Conclusion in those termes to distinguish the Lusorious Lot it selfe from any abuse that may otherwise accompanie the Game wherein it is vsed, and so make it euill in that respect. But take the Tenent as it is, Lusorious Lots in themselues not euill. To omit the Distinction so cōmon in the Schooles, †Per se, & per accidens.of it selfe, and by accident; and the Phrase so frequent among Diuines and Writers of the best note, of things in themselues not euill, wicked, or vnwarrantable. hPictoria ars ex se mala non est. Rhenā. in Tertul. ad Hermog.The Art of Painting, saith Rhenanus, is not euill of it selfe. *Iuramentum per se non pugnat cum lege Dei morali. Chemnit. harmon. c. 51.To sweare, saith Chemnitius, is not of it self against the Moral Law. iPer se vitiosum aut da…mabile non est, necessitatibus suis prospicere. Calvin. harmō. Euang. in Matth. 24. 38.It is not of it selfe vitious or condemnable, saith Caluin, for a man to prouide for himselfe. Of some Ceremonies vsed in our Churches, saith Beza, kQuum non sint ex earum rerum genere, quae per se impiae sunt, non videri tanti momenti, ut propterea deserendum ministerium. Beza. epist. 12.they are not things impious of themselues, nor such as a man should leaue his Ministerie for: and of other of them, lPer se non sunt idololatrica. Ibid.They are not of themselues idolatrous. And Bucanus, mRes mediae quae in sese nec bonae, nec malae sunt. Bucan. loc. commun. 33. §. 13.Things indifferent are such as are neither good nor euill of themselues, &c. To passe by, I say, an infinite number of such speeches, that in learned writers occurre eueryevery where. For to what end should I waste time and loose labour, in nIn sylvam quid lignaferam? quidve in mare lymphas?bringing wood to the wood, and casting water into the sea? Doth not the Apostle himselfe deliuer his tenents sometime in like manner as I doe? o1 Cor. 7. 28.If thou takest a wife, thou sinnest not: and, if a virgin marry, shee sinneth not. And, pIbid. 7. 36.Let him doe as he will, he sinneth not; let them be married. And now let Mr. B. tell not Mr. G. but S. Paul, that such a tenent seemeth to him more timorous than beseemeth so worthy an Apostle, &c. setting downe his iudgement whether folke may marry or no, to say, they sinne not in so doing. I might adde a iudicious Diuines Comment on those words of the same Apostle, q1 Cor. 10. 23.All things are lawfull; rMorton in 1 Cor. 10.that is, they may be taken without sinne. As also that Mr. Perkins in this very point concerning the vse of mixt Games, such as Tables and Cards are, passing his censure of them, saith, that they are sPerkins Cases of Conscience, lib. 3. cap. 4. sect. 3. quaest. 2.not simply to be condemned. But of this enough.
4. Yea but Mr. G. affirmeth them else-where to be lawfull in themselues. And why is he fearefull now to allow them as good in themselues? Though such words of mine be not found in the place pointed to: yet I feare not to owne them, and it is like enough that else-where I may vse them. Nor did I euer vnderstand till now, that these two were not equiualent, not to be euill, and to be lawfull. Is there any medium in morall actions betweene lawfull and vnlawfull? Or any difference betweene vnlawfull and euill? If not, then eueryevery thing that is not euill is not vnlawfull; and eueryevery thing consequently that is not euill, is lawfull. Yea I adde further, that eueryevery thing that is not euill, is in some sense, and that a good sense too, good. The word, good, therefore in common acception is taken two wayes; sometime more strictly for some such tforeign. Matth. 5. 45.vertuous act, as deserueth uGloriosa. Senaep. 83. Honesta, & pulchritudine specieque eximia laudabilia. Cic. de …in. l. 2.a speciall note of commendation and praise; and in this sense there is some medium betweene good and bad. For some actions there be, as for a man xPsal. 49. 18. Quid magnifici est, se amare, sibi parcere, sibi acquirere? Sen. de benef. l. 4. c. 14.to make much of himselfe, to drinke when he is a dry, yLament. 4. 3. Tit. 2. 4. Meus mihi, suus cuique charus est. Plaut. Capt. 2. 3. foreign. Plut. de sen. polit.to louelove his owne, zMatth. 5. 45, 46. Si quid … erga benefec…, aut consul… fid …, Non … laudem, …lpa caruisse arbitr…r. Plaut. …rinum. 5. 2. Hinc …. ep. 11. l. 3. Non ideo …men eximiam gloriam meruisse me, ut ille praedicat, cred…; sed tantùm effugisse flagitiū.to befriend his friend, to aHinc Mitio Tere…t. Adelph. 4. 3. Ego in hacre nihil repe…io, quamobrem lauder tantopere: Meum officium faci…: quod peccatum à nobis ortum est, corrig….make amends for what he hath done amisse, &c. which though they be allowable, yet are not greatly commendable; bNeglecta quaedam offens…m contrahunt, …uae …pleta gloriam non merentur: & damnant praevaricatorem, nec glorificant autorem. Bern. de praecept. & d…ens.neither deserue they much praise and commendation when they are done, nor without much sinne many times may they be omitted. Sometime the word is taken in a greater latitude of sense, for any action that is warrantable and allowable whatsoeuer, and so there is no medium at all betweene good and bad, eueryevery particular morall action being either warrantable or vnwarrantable, as cChap. 5. sect. 5.in my Lots I hauehave shewed at large. And in this sense I say, that *Contra quam Tertull. ad …xor. l. 1. Non id…ò quid bonum, quia malum non est.not euill, and good are all one: as with the Apostle, not to sinne, and to doe well are all one. d1 Cor. 7. 36.If he marry her, he sinneth not; and afterward, eIbid. 38.He that marrieth her doth well. Where let Mr. B. againe demand of the Apostle (I dare not) why he was so fearefull to say, that he that maried did well, at the first, especially obseruing the Caution that he there giueth, fIn Domino. Ibid. 39.in the Lord: And let him take heed, lest while he reiecteth these, as quagmirie grounds, he plunge many weake Christians into deepe quagmires indeed, wherein no firme footing can be found, to fix and rest their perplexed mindes and consciences on.
5. This considered, all that followeth is but gEcquandone vidisti flammam slipula exortam, claro crepitu, largo fulgore, cito incremento? Sedenim materia levi, caduco incendio, nullis reliquijs? Hem tibi illa accusatio, iurgijs inita, verbis aucta, argumentis defecta, nullis post sententiā latā reliquijs calumniae permansura. Apul. in apol.a meere flash, that vanisheth so soone as it is fired, of it selfe. Nor will Mr. B. euer be able to proue, or to perswade any man, I beleeue, not sworne to stand to his sentence, beside himselfe, that those hEzek. 36. 31.deeds not good in the Prophet were any other than iIunius refert ad Cap. 6. 9.euill works, such as the kThe like phrase is Psal. 36. 4. where Piscator, in actionibus malis: & Iunius, viam ut quamque videt pessimam pergit in ea. So oft in the Prouerbs, To eat ouer much honey is not good, Chap. 25. 27. To respect persons in iudgement is not good, Chap. 24. 23. False weights are no good thing, Chap. 20. 23. De quibus & similibus vise Drus. observ. l. 1. c. 22. & H. Steph. ad Corinth. de dialect.Psalmist saith, wicked men addict themselues vntounto: for who is bound to repent of ought that is not euill? Or that in lMatth. 3. 10.Iohn the Baptists speech, the opposition is betweene fruit good, and fruit not euill; and not rather (as all Diuines that euer I read, vnderstand it) betweene mMatth. 7. 17, 18, 19. & 12. 33. Esai. 5. 4, 7.good fruit, and euill fruit, or nLuk. 13. 7. Ezek. 15. 2, 3. Sicut steriles arbores excidi solent. Calvin. harmon.no fruit; it being euill also, as oMalum est non fecisse bonum. foreign. Chrysoft. in Matth. hō. & tom. 9. apanthism. 6. sive serm. de virt. & vit.Chrysostome well obserueth, not to doe well.
6. For the crying sinnes that Mr. B. saith accompanie these Games. Doe crying sinnes accompanie eueryevery lusorie Lot, the shuffling of arrowes, for the siding of shooters, or the drawing of pawnes for the leading at Chesse, &c? For the Question is of any Lot at all vsed in disport; not of Cards or Dice alone. Or doe those crying sinnes arise from the Lot it selfe vsed in them? or not accompanie other Games, as bowles, and nine pins, &c. wherein no Lot is? Or must all Lots be necessarily banished from all Game, because some Lot-games are with many attended with such sinnes? But Mr. B. hath no minde at all to keepe to the Question, or to come directly to that that he should deale with.
I. B.
But here, perhaps, it may be said, The first Reason prouing that a Lot may be matter of recreation doth giuegive me a check. Is it a check? Then I will try if I cannot auoid the Mate.
T. G.
Mr. Bs. mirth here I let passe, that wee may come to the purpose: and set downe my first Argument as it is in my Booke.