Nature and Use of Lots, Chapter 8
CHAP. VIII. Of Cautions to be obserued in the vse of lusorious Lots.
§ 1. THus hauing answered the arguments produced by the learned of contrarie iudgement against these lusorious Lots, and proued the vse of them to be in it selfe not vnwarrantable: It shal not be amisse, as we did before in the former, so to annex here some caueats and cautions to be obserued in the vse of them, both applying some of the former to this particular; and beside adding some others, that may meete with such abuses, as to such kinde of Lots may be incident; that so things not vnlawfull in the right and warrantable vse of them, may not become vnlawfull to vsus by our abuse of them.
Lusorious Lots therefore, as all other recreations, are to be vsed soberly, seasonably, ingenuously, inoftensiuely, prudently, and religiously.
First, I say, soberly and moderately, and to this purpose a1. Thess. 5.6. 1. Pet. 4.7. 2 Tim. 1.7. Tit. 2.6.12.the holy Ghost hath commended vntounto vsus Christian sobrietle and temperance as a principall virtue, yea as bTit. 2.12. 2. Pt. 1.6.a nurse and a staffe of godlinesse and righteousnesse; cFennor of recreat. rul gen. 1.which consisteth in a sparing, a d1. Cor. 7.29.30.moderate vse at least, not of meate and drinke only, but of all bodily benefits; those more specially that are meerely or mainely for recreation and delight. And the Heathen men themselues by the light of nature hauehave discerned; that there is eforeign. Cleobulus apud Laert. & Stobaeunt. Mensuram optimū ait Cleobul…s Lindius. Auson. foreign. Py…hagor. foreign Phocyl. Et foreign. …t Theo…. foreign. - Hesiod foreign. Pin…ar. Pyth. ode 2. Modus omnibus in rebus optimū est ha…i…: Nimia omnia nimi…s exhibent negotiū hominibus ex se. Plaut. Paenulo. - optimus cunctis modus F…ndi, tacexdi, sonini vicinꝰ modus, Benefactorum, gratia…um, iniuric, Studij, laborum, vita in omni quicquid est, Istum requirit optimae pausae modum. Auson. lado 7. sap. Modus vbique laudandus est. Cass…od. l. 1. cp. 19 Optimus …st in omni re modus, & laudabil…s vbique mensura. Pelag. ad Demetriad.a measure and fAuream quisquis mediocritat…m Diligit, tutus &c. Horat. ode 10. l. 2.a golden meane to be obserued in all things; that gEs… modus in rebus: sunt certi denique sines, Quos vltra citraque nequit consistere rectum. Horat. sat. 1. …ib. 1. foreign. Man. Palaeolog. ad fil. praece…t. 40.there are certaine bounds and limites of them euen in nature prescribed, which when men transgresse they swarue from the right vse of them; and hforeign. Sodamus in Anthol, quod quidam Stratodemo, alij Soloni, alij Chiloni, alij a…ijs tribu…nt. foreign. Pindar. apud Plutarch. ad Apollon. Nimium nil, Pittacus. Auson. 7. sap. foreign. Theogn. foreign. Alphaeus anthol l. 1. c. 12. Tò, foreign ponit Aristot. R…e…. l. 2. c. 21. & Chiloni adscribit. Ib. c 12. Mortales oraculorū societatē dedere Chiloni Lacedaemonio praecepta eiꝰ Delphis consecrando aureis literis quae sunt haec, Nosse se quemque, &. Nimis nihil &c. Plin. bist nat. l. …. c. 32. Quid aliud est quod Delphica canat columnaliteris suis, foreign quàm nosfacere ad mortaliū modū medioxumè? Varro apud Nonium, Vitiosum est vbique quod nimium est. Sence. tranquill. c. 9. - n…m id arbitror Apprime in vita essertile, vt nequid nimis, Ter. Andr. seen. 1. foreign. Man. Pal. praecept. 24. Vise Clem. Al…x str…m. l. 1 & Stob. tom. 2. c. 3.that euen iEccles. 7.18. Insani sapiens nomen serat, aequus iniqui, Vltra quam satis est, virtutem si petat ipsam. Horat. epist. 6. lib. 1.the best things vsed immoderately become inconuenient; as waters breaking their bankes, or surrounding their bounds grow incommodious and dangerous; and meate and drinke taken either vn…easonably or excessiuely hurt rather then helpe. As in all other things therefore, so kIimodus laudabilis est, …ùm moderatione adhibita prudenter, et si fieripotest, vtiliter exercetur, vt mandato C…mi…i acquiescas, Nequid nimis. de venatica Ioan. Sarub. policr. l. 1. c. 4. Neclusisse pudet, sed non incidere ludū. H…rat. lib. 1. epist. 14.in these pastimes especially a meane is to be held, partly in regard of the measure of time and expence, and partly in regard of the manner of our vsage of them.
In regard of measure, for time, regard is to bee had, that they take not vp too much time with vsus, nor we spend ouer much time about them. Wherein those offend that spend, as we say, lforeign vt Plut. sup.the leiue long day, yea some mDie n…ctuque ludendo. Cod. l. 3. tit. de aleat. …eg. 2. Fertur & necte perp…ti alea lusisse. de Vero Capitolin. -luditur alea pernox. Iuuen sup.both day and night too, at game: an euill practise, yet too too common in most places among vsus, (by nEdmundꝰ G…indal Londineus. Ep. ad D. Pauli A…no Domini 1560. tes…e Guil. F…ik praefat. antiprognost.a reuerend Prelate, Guil. Fulk ibid. & lo. Riuius de offic. pastor. & Rob. Trauers in Psalm. 111.besides others, publikely heretofore complained of) especially at the vsuall solemnitie of our Sauiours natiuitie: At which time, oVise Luciani foreign & Macrobij Saturnalia.as the Heathen in their Saturnalia, held pAd 14•m Cal. Ian…ar vno die primum, teste Masurio: tum per i…iduum, ex Mallio & Augusto; quandoque & 7. dies integros, ex Nouis & Mummio, Macrobius Saturn. l. 1. c 10. Sed vise Lips. Sat. l 1. c. 3.4. Hinc apud Horat. serm. l. 2. sat. 7. libertas Decemb…is.much about the same season, were wont to giuegive themselues wholy to gaming, and reuelling; so many (too too many) among vsus who professe our selues Christians, setting then aside all sage, and serious, yea and sober demeanour; giuegive themselues wholy to game and play and all kinde of excesse, mispending their time, then which nothing is more pretious, nor ought more charily to be spent; and qSaturnalia potius celebrantes quàm Christi …atales. Guil. Fulco pr… fat. Antiprognost. Vi dici qucas quod olim Vigilantius, Mutatis nominibus Gentilium festa celebramus. Natalitia enim Christi quafi Saturnalia quedam sunt: quasi Bacebanalia Quadragesimam antecedentes dies. Riuius de offic pastor.carying themselues in that loose and dissolute manner, that if a stranger should by chance come among them not knowing what religion they were of, he would by their behauiour rather guesse them to be worshippers either of Bacchus the reuelling and drunken God, or of Saturne the riffling and gaming God, then the seruants of Christ Iesus rLuk 21.34.the Preacher and Practiser of sobrietie and temperance. As the Apostle speaketh, sIam. 3.10.My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Though tEphes. 4.17, 18, 19. Rom. 13.13, 14, 12.Heathen hauehave walked thus that were ignorant of God; yet uEphos. 4.20.21. Vos autem non fi…: Christum didicistis, vt rectè Beza interpungit.we must not doe so, that hauehave learned Christ; if so be we hauehave heard him, and hauehave beene taught of him, as we professe our selues to hauehave beene. Christian religion giueth no libertie for such courses at any time, much lesse at that time, when we should (if wee will aright celebrate the memory of Gods mercy toward vsus in Christ) cary our selues most religiously and most conformably to the life of Christ, wee ought therefore to remember both then and at all times, that recreation to other affaires is but as *foreign. Plut. Lycurg.sauce or xDelectati… ad vitam, vt sal ad cibū. Peccant mulieres cùm potaegia nimis condiunt sale. Barelet. quadra. hebd 4. ser. 2.salt to our meats: As the vse of sauce or salt is to prepare our stomack for food, or to helpe our appetite in eating; so the vse and end of recreation is to refresh vsus after labour, and to make vsus fit for labour: It is not an employment that our principall and pretious time ought to be spent in; which was the fault of those both in yEsai 5.11, 12, 13.Esaies daies; and in zMatt. 24.38, 39.Noahs time (whom the holy Ghost therefore taxeth) that they gaue themselues wholy to their delights and their pleasures, regarding nothing else, and minding nothing else; like the idle 1Act. 17.21.Athenians that applied themselues to nought else but to heare or tell newes. And surely as it is preposterous diet to vse 2foreign.more sauce then meate, and to cloy the stomacke with that which should whet vp the appetite: so 3foreign. Aristot. Ethic. Nic. l. 9. c. o Parum de delectatione sufficit ad vitam pro condimento, firut pai ū de sale sufficit in ci…o. Thom. sum. par. 22 2 c.q. 168. …. 4.it is no lesse preposterous a course to hauehave the greater part of mens liues taken vp with disport, so that it is a meane to withdraw and with-hold them from that, which it ought to fit them for.
The rule therefore is here that Game is to be vsed as an extraordinary refreshing, not as an ordinary imployment: aforeign. Arist. Ethic. l. 4. c. 8. foreign. Id…m polit l. 8 c. 3.as Phisicke in sicknesse for the restoring of health, so recreation vponupon wearinesse for the refreshing of the spirits. In which regard is that saying applied better *M…gis offendit (…) nimiū quàm parum. Cic. Oratore.to play then it was sometime bPhilosophandū paeu…is. Ne…ptolemus Ennianus. a…od Cic. de oral. l. 2.to study, eBabington on Command. 8.We must play but a little: delights of this kinde being well compared vntounto cforeign. In antholog. l. 1. c. 46. foreign. Pindar. Pyth…ode 7. id quid Solomon Prou. 25.27, 28.Hony, d1. Sam. 14.27. Volup…ates vt mel summo digito degust…ndas, non plenamanu sumendas. Dionys. soph. apad Philostrat.with the fingers tip to be taken rather then with the whole hand.
§ 2. For matter of expence likewise is great regard to be had, that wee spend no more then is fit vponupon them, nor then our estate may well afford to be spent vponupon our sports; that in our lawfull recreations fFennor of recreat. rul. gen. 5.we go not beyond our abilitie; and therefore that either we play without staking or wagering, or at least without staking and wagering more, then any mans estate will well permit one of his rancke to spend on his lawfull delights, and without disabling of himselfe to the doing of that which God requireth of him otherwise.
In which regard is such play by reuerend Diuines iustly condemned, gB King on Ion. lect 9.wherein the matter engaged icapordeth a mans stocke or his state. As also the ciuill Law in this regard inhibiteth these games among others, for that many did hNecludentes, necludumscientes, sed numeratione tantum substantias perdunt. Cod. lib. 3. tit. 43. leg. 2.not so much play as cast their wealth away at them, playing night and day for gold and siluer, and iewels and plate; and iNon impunè milites in ludo arma amittehant. Dig. de re milit. lib. 49. tit. 16. leg. 3. & ibid. leg. 14.souldiers pauning their weapons and armour at play. And for this cause the same Law allowing yet some other games, forbiddeth any man to hazard at them kNon permittimus vltra vuum solidum, etiamsi quis multum diues sit. Cod. lib. 3. tit. 43. leg 2.aboue a shilling a game, though he be of good abilitie, or a far lesse summe if he be of meaner estate, lVt si quem … contigerit, casum grauem non sust… neat. Ibid.that the Looser may sustain… no notable losse. And m33. Henr. 8. c. 9. E… 2. & 3. Phil. & Mar c. 9.our lawes likewise inhibite any but the richer and better sort the vse of these games and other the like, whereat much may be soone lost, saue at certaine times only: thereby to preuent the wretched practise of such, as would otherwise be continually crumbling away their wealth by the ordinary vse of them: Which for any man to doe it is no better then plaine stelth. It is to rob the poore, whom nEphes 4.28.he ought to releiue (but by this meanes disableth himselfe so to doe) and oProu. 3.17. inde & Ele…mosyna foreign sine iustitia dicta Matt. 6.1. & 2. Cor 9.10. sicut & foreign Psal. 112 9. vnde & Apostolus sumpsisse videtur.whose necessitie giueth them a right to his wealth: it is to rob his familie, pProu. 17.27.which he ought to maintaine, and q1. Tim. 5.8.which not to prouide for is made the note of a counterfaite Christian, and one worse then a professed Infidell: it is to rob himselfe: and as Salomon saith, rProu. 28.24.He that robbeth father or mother, and saith it is no sin, is sSocius est viro interfectori, Iun.Cosengerman to a Murtherer, or a Destroier: so he that robbeth himselfe by wasting of his owne state on such courses, is little better then a murtherer or a destroier. And surely tSi omnis qui hominem oc…idit, h… …icid… est, quisquis scipsum occidit, non… sit homicida… …i hom…a non est. Aug. epist. 61. Qu…ad… innocens iuditabitur, cui dictum est, Diliges proximum tuum tanquam te, si homicidium committit in seipso, quod prohibetur in proximo? Ibid. Si paricidace sceleratior quàm quilibe… homicida, quia non tantúm hominem, verùm etiam prepinquum necat, & in ips… paricidis quanto propinquiorem quisque peremerit, tanto indicatur immanior; sine dubio peier est qui se occidit, quia n…mo est homini scipso propinquier. Hugo Victor. de bono patient. c. 13.if the murtherer of himselfe cannot bee discharged of sinne, no more then hee that murthereth some other a meere stranger: then neither can he be acquited that is a robber of himselfe: since the one depriueth himselfe of life, the other of liuing, of the meanes whereby hee should liue, and without which uforeign. Synes. in epist. Et foreign, vt Aristoph. Pluto. i. vita non vitalis, vt Ennius apud Cic. de amicit. vnde Comicus, foreign. i. Vita band vocanda est vita victue indiga. Erasm, chil. 2. cent. 8. ad…g. 3…. quod Eurip. foreign. Misera vita morsest, non vita. Drus…ad Sulpit. Et quod de arcu Heraclitus foreign. Eustath… Iliad. d. foreign Hesi…d. & absq…e cu hom… foreign, vt Sophorl. Antigen.his life may be no better, yea becommeth many times *Si…cid. 30.17. foreign Theogn.more bitter, then death.
Yet is it lamentable to consider how common abuse is in this kinde, both at these games, and at others, among men of all sorts. Some one great man sometime at a race, or a sitting, or a match at boules, or an afternoones cock-fight, casting more away then would hauehave maintained many of honest meanes in good estate for a twelué-monethmonth and more: so that by meanes hereof not the poore alone remaine vnreleiued, and 1…simplexne suror sestertia cent…m Perdère, & horr…nti tunitam non reddere feruo? Iua…nal. sat. 1.their seruants vnrewarded, but their rents are so racked and their estates so improued, that their Tenants that hold of them are thereby also impouerished, and yet themselues as xGenes. 41.21.Pharaos leane Kine when they had eaten vp the fat ones, y-quodcunqur profanda Traxit auaritia, laxa peiere resundit. Claudian. belle Gildon.neuer a whit the richer, or better able to doe King or Countrey seruice, for all that they hauehave scraped and gathered together in that sort.
And againe the poorer sort, on the other side, though they complaine of penury, yet will not be beaten from play: euen those that will pretend want, to shift of the least common charge, yet will make shift to get somewhat wherewith to hold game: who when they hauehave spent what they had that way, wanting meanes to recouer ought soone or sodainely againe, and being enured to idlenesse by such thriftlesse haunts, are enforced ost to betake themselues afterward to such courses, as bring vponupon them at length as well losse of life as of liuing.
But here is a question moued among the learned, whether a man may play for, or wager ought in play. And it is a question that requireth a larger discourse throughly to discusse it, then this present worke, growing already too great, will well permit. Some vtterly condemne it: and I hauehave seene of late in writing 2M.W on occasion of Sampsons wager. Iudg 14.12.along discourse containing sundry arguments tending thereunto: of which yet (a- ha…c veniam petimus que damus que vicissim. Horat. arte poet. to speake my minde freely, and ingenuously without exception to the Author, whom I thinke reuerently of otherwise, though in iudgement dissenting from him herein) I am not able to apprehend the force and validitie. Neither indeed can I discerne ought that should make it vnlawfull for a couple of familiar friends to put it to the euent of a game, whether of them shall part with such a trifle to the other, as either of them may spend lawfully at that present vponupon his pleasure, or they might otherwise wel freely bestow either on other.
Others therefore allow it, as the Ciuill law doth, in some cases bQuod in conuiuio vescendi causa ponitur, in tam rē familiam ludere permittitur. C. lib. 3. tit. 43. leg. 3.for somewhat presently to be expended and spent in common betweene them, as when men play together for the charge of a supper. Yet may men go too far also that way; as in feasting of friends (a fault in these times too vsuall) a man may exceede. It is said of Nabal the Churle that c1. Sam. 26.36.he made a feast like a King. And as dProu. 23.20, 21.by feasting a rich man may soone bring himselfe to pouerty, and a poore man to beggerie: so may either do the same, which some seeme to hauehave obserued, by hazarding ouermuch to be spent and wasted that way.
For mine owne part, I approue the iudgement of that reuerend Diuine who thus determineth this doubt; eB. Babington on command. 8.When so little is plaid as no way disableth a man to any duty of his calling, or the money, being not much, is bestowed in some meeting for the maintenance of louelove, or that which is won is a reward appointed for the exercise, (bestowed by such as may wel be at that charg) then I think with fIdem ex parte Danaeus de lado ale… c. 4. & Perkins cases of Conscience booke 3. chap. 4. § 3. Quest. 2.others, that it is not vnlawful.
So that the rule is here that nothing be hazarded but what may very well be spared, and what a man may expend lawfully at that present on his lawfull delight.
§ 3. And thus may we keepe within compasse for the measure or quantitie both of time and expence. Now 1Ludendi modus quidam retinendus est, vt ne nimis omnia profundamus, elatique voluptate in turpitudiuem dilabamur. Cicer offic. l. 2.for the manner of vsing game further consideration would be had. For therein also many offend, when they are too eager vponupon play, or are ouermuch transported and caried away with delight in it; when, as one well saith, gFennor of recreat. …legener. 3.they either h1. Thess. 5.6.sleepe at it, or are drunke at it: that is, when it either so occupieth mens mindes that it maketh them vnwatchfull against the motions of finne, or so ouercommeth them with the delight of it, or other passions procured by it, that it maketh them breake forth into outrage of swearing, blaspheming, fretting, cursing, and quarelling, and such courses as sobriety in such cases would neuer admit. For iEsai. 51.21. Ebriae, non à vino. Est & absque tem…to temulentia quaedā, & quaedam etiā, in sobrieta…e ebrietas; (foreign.) ab ira, àli bidine, ab ambi…icne, ab avaritia. foreign Chrysost contra Iud. l. 5. Es…. & mentis ebrietas ebrij sunt mulis qui sibi sobrij videntur: ira…undia anima no in…briat; fur…r plusgiv…briat: inebriant libidines: av…ritia etiam …abidum reddit. Origen. in Leuit. homil. 7. foreign. Basil. homil. 1. foreign. Plato leg. l. 1. foreign Pl…t. sym prob. l. 7. c. 10. Ebrius v…geris mul…is …xisor vndi que curn. Lucr. l. 3.a man may be drunke as well without wine as with wine; with the drie smoake of Tabacco as well as with drinke. As one saith well of prosperity, that it so transporteth some, that they are euen kFortuna dulci ebrij. Horat. Ebrius pane, Belgicū de proteru… diuerbium. Drus. prouerb. l. 2. Et Eras. ebil. …. cent. 3 ad. 3 foreign; Dionys. Halie. antiq. l. 11. foreign. Demost. Philip. 1. Motisms illi faelicitate …imia caput. Senec. Epist. 115.as drunke with it; and lforeign. Piut. symp probl. l. 7. c. 8. ridiculis spectaculis quasi ebrius efficeris. Chrysost. in Math. homil. 37.some sorts of mirth and mforeign. Plut. symp. probl l. 7. c. 10. Vise Eras. chil. 1. cent. 3. adag. 3.musicke are said to make men little better: So wee may well say that men are drunke with game, when they are so addicted thereunto, that it stirreth vp in them such distempered passions as men soberly minded cannot but condemne and ab…orre, and which they themselues could not but dislike in themselues, if they were not for the present besides themselues.
As therefore it is well aduised by one, that nCauept totus aliquando dormias, Bern. de ordin. vitae.Men at no time giuegive themselues wholy to sleepe: so much more hauehave we good cause to be wary, that *Cauendum ne totaliter grauitas anim… reschuati…. Them, sum…per. …4.2 ….…. 168. a. 12. ne dum animum relaxare volumus, orat… harmoniam & quasi concentum soluamus. Ambros. offic. l. 1. c. 20. Otium industriae subnecti debet▪ non qu… euanescat virtus sed quorecrectur. Val. Man. l. 8. c. 8. Mulium enim interest remittas aliquid, an soluas. Sen. de tranq. c. 15.we set not our mindes at any time wholy vponupon play, and so sleepe waking at it, (the more daungerous sleepe of the twain) nor suffer our affections to be ouermuch caried away with it, least we become no lesse daungerously drunke therewith then some other are with wine or strong drinke. For as oLuk. 21.34.worldly cares, so pLuk 8.14.bodily pleasures, and Game among others, though not euill simply in themselues, yet become spiritually preiudiciall and dangerous vntounto vsus, when our hearts are either wholy possessed with them, or ouer-eagerly and earnestly addicted vntounto them.
In this kind especially qforeign. Plut. symp. prob. l 7. c. 7.to exceede is the rather discommendable, because the businesse it selfe (if it may be so tearmed) is but light, being but matter of recreation and ordinary delight: and it is rforeign Is…er. ad Dem…nic.no lesse an imputation for a man to be ouer serious in trifling matters, then to trifle in serious and weightie affaires.
The rule then is here that sFlecte …ruces anim…s, vt vere ludere possis. Iulian. sch l. Lus…ri numos, anim…s qu… que pon…re debent Eusth.Disports be vsed sportingly: so as we be t- irasci desine victus. As…enus. Pone malas, 'quoties ludendo vinceris, iras: Irasci vict… minimè place… …ompeian. schol.content to win or to loose at them, and stand indifferent to conquer or to be conquered by them, and to go well through with or to be crossed in them, as it shall fall out: our affections being no further fixed vponupon or fastened to them, then the weight and worth of them may well warrant.
§ 4. Secondly recreations are to be vsed as soberly, so seasonably. For uEccles. 3.1. foreign & foreign quod ex Pittaci sententia (foreign apud Laert) Auson. foreign, tempus vt noris iubet: Sed foreign iste …mpesti…um tempꝰ est. foreign. Man. Palaeol ad fil. praecept. 6. foreign. Theogu - foreign. Sodamus in anthol.there is a time and season for all things, and for recreation among other things. *Eccles. 3.4.There is a time, saith Salomon, for laughing, and mirth, and a time for dauncing and delight. There are times for recreation and sport, and times for sad and serious affaires. Recreation therefore is good when it is seasonable, when it commeth in his due time: else, as it is with fish and foule when they come out of season, xforeign. Menand. H foreign. Idem. Tempestina aliqua ni voluptas …it, nocet, H. Stephan. To foreign. Isocr. ad Demon. Et Bonum malum fit tempore hand datumsuo. Erasmus chil. 4. cent. 3. adag. 2. Et data non apto tempore vina nocent. Ouid. remed. l. 1.that is euill, that is good otherwise.
Herein then men offend, not onelyonly when they take vp too much time with it, but when they take not fit times for it. For a man may spend too much time at it, and then he sinneth in vsing it immoderately: and againe he may spend but little, yet not fit time about it, & then he sinneth in vsing it vnseasonably. Now then doe men vse game & recreation vnseasonably, when they should and ought to be otherwise imployed, either in the workes of their speciall callings, or about the holy things of God.
First, when they should be about any necessary duty concerning their estate and place, or the means of their maintenance, and the good of themselues and theirs. In which regard was not that parties course commendable that saith, yPosthabui tamen illorum me… seria ludo… Virgil, bu…ol. Ecl. 7.hee neglected his owne busines to attend others at play: nor can those be iustified that either sit at cards and tables within doores, or be in the bouling alley abroad, when other affaires of great consequence require their presence else-where. Since the vse and end of recreation is not to withdraw or with-hold vsus from our more serious imployments; but 1Vt tempestiua laboris intermissione ad laborandum vegetiores reddamur. Valer. Max. memor. l. 8. c. 8.to make vsus fitter for them, and better able to go through with them. zforeign. Aristot. Polit. lib. 4. cap. 14. Belligerando pax quaeritur; & belli pacem finem constat esse. optabil…m. Augus…. deciuit. De…l …9. cap. 12. Sa… pax quaeri…ur arm…. Sta…. Theb. l. 7.As peace is the end of warre; and peace is aimed at in warre; so aforeign. Arist. ethic. l 1….…6.is busines the end of recreation, aforeign Arist. ibid.it being ordained for busines, and not busines for it. Yea as the right end of war is peace, so the maine end of peace is not so much the taking of our pleasure, (though bZ…ch. 3.10. & 8.5. & 9.17.we enioy that benefit also thereby) as the freedome of following our serious affaires. The time therefore that ought to be imployed in the one, must not be vnseasonably mispent in the other. cN…que enimita generati à natura …umus, vt ad ludum i…cumq…ef…cti esse videamur; sed adseueritatem potius & s…dia gra…iora atquo maiora: ludo autem & … v…i illis quidom l…ce…, sed sicut so…o & quietibus cateri…, cùm gra…bꝰ serij sque rebꝰ satisfecerin…. …i…. offic. l. 1. Hins Germani… vitio dat Tatitus, quod inter feria sobrij a…eam exercent, &c.Our vacant time onelyonly is allowed for disport: which is then most seasonable, as foode, when hunger craueth it, or as sleepe, when heauinesse after watching calleth for it, so when wearisomenesse after other imployments requireth it.
Secondly, when they should be tending the holy things of God either in publike or priuate. And thus dLudo Sabbatum viela…ur. Alex. Carpent. destruct. vit. par. 4. c. 23. Ioan. Gritfch. quadrag. s…rm. 10. Ioan. Nider. praecept. 3. c. 1. Concil. Tol…t. 4. apud Grat. de consecr. d. 3.is it a sinne to follow game on the Sabbath, as eIudaei sabbatum obs…ruant carnali ocio: vacare enim volunt ad nugas atque luxurias su…. August. de 10. chord. c. 3. Celebrant sabbat…m Iudei o…io languido & stux…, & luxurioso. Vacant enim ad nugas; à bono opere vacant, ab opere nugatorio non vacant. Id…m Psal. 91. Iudai seruiliter obserua…t diem Sabbat… ad luxuriam, ad ebrietatem. Idemin Ioan. tract. 3. Et Socrat. eccl. hist. li. 7. c. 1…. foreign. de Iudae… Alexandri…is.the Iewes vsed to doe, and doe yet to this day both on their Sabbaths and solemne feasts, and 3Si quid op…ris in agro quis…iam di… festo, ita re poscente, fecisset, quam nefarium scelus, quàm inexpiabile …rimen? At ve…ò qui diem eundem, negl…ta concione sacra, con…in̄s, com…stationibus, vino, crapula, saltationibus, alea, ludis ferè to…u… consumpsisse…, is nimirum p…è pulchréque feriatus esse credebatur. Rinius de seculi nostri f…lic. See Whites way to the Church, digr. 46. num. 6.as the Popish sort are noted ordinarily to solemnize their festiuals. For this is not fExod. 20.8. Esai 58.13.to sanctifie or consecrate the Sabbath as holy to the Lord. The Sabbath indeed is a day of rest, but gLeuit. 23.3. & Exod. 31.15. foreign. Ignat. ad Magn…s.of holy rest; of rest not to worldly recreations but to heauenly meditations, 4Finis est Sabbati vt vacet h…m… rebus diuinis. He…r. Herp in decalog. praec…pt. 3. serm. 7. Et Rob. Lincoln, in mand. 3. Debet totus dies fes…i…us à Christiano expendi in operibus sanctis.of rest to religious and spirituall imployments. It is sacriledge therefore to follow game on the Sabbath; at such time as wee should bee plying the seruice and worship of God: it is time stolne from God that wee spend so on our sports: Which it were lesse sinne therefore for vsus to spend hforeign. Aristot. Ethic. l. 10. c. 6.on some more serious affaires, according to that which one of the auncients well say, that iM…lius …st (Dic Sabbati) a…are quàm salta…. Aug. in Psal. 91. Melius tota die f…d… rent quàm tota di… laderent. Idem in Psal. 32. Melius faceret Iudaeus in agro suo aliqu…d vtile, quàm in theatro desidiosus existeret: melius foeminae ecrum die Sabba… lanam facerent, quàm to…a die in neomenij… suis impudi…è saltarent. Idom de 10. chord. c. 3. & in Ioan. tract. 3. Hoc. quoque proculdubi… B. August. verbu… Christianis Ecclesiae festi…itates in ocijs & nugis & luxurijs celebrantibus potest adaptari. Rob. Lincoln. in decalog. mand. 3.It were better for a man (in such manner) on the Sabbath to plough then to play, and to dig and delue then to daunce all day. For the lighter the occasion of sinning is, where all other things are equall, the greater the sinne is.
Yea and those also that on other daies wast that time this way, which they ought to spend either in their owne priuate and personall deuotions, or in instruction of their families and performance of holy duties with them, are not herein to be iustified no more then the former: the one turneth it to sinne as well as the other, in neglecting of that duty for the following of their owne pleasure, that kDeut. 6.7. Ephes. 6.4.God himselfe hath enioyned them, and will one day require of them.
So that the rule is here, that That time alone may be spent in play, which wee hauehave free from other, serious and religious, affaires.
§ 5. Thirdly, recreation must be vsed ingenuously, freely and liberally: lSperne lucrum: versat mentes vesana libido. Pallad. Lusori cupido semper grauis exitus instat. Basil. schol. in catalect.not with any greedy desire of lucre and gaine. For recreation is no trade or course of life, for a man to make a liuing of or to liue by: As mLudendo non ludere sed perdere. Cod. lib. 3. tit. 43.it is not playing, but spending when men wast themselues that way: so nforeign. Alexander Mag. apud Pl…t. in apo…th. non ludere, sed illudere, quod ali… sensu de Canir Seneca sup. non ludere, sed latronem & prado…e… agere. Astesa…. in sum. lib. 5. tit. 30.it is not playing with, but preying vponupon those wee seeme to play with, when by such courses we pill them and make a spoile of them. It is to alter the very nature of the thing it selfe, to make a trade and a trafficke of disport and pastime; to make not a lusorious, but a serious L…t of it; yea more then a serious, oVt verè sortes essent, & fata tenta…entur: quod de Heliogabali sortibꝰ Lamprid. See the example of him that hanged himselfe in Trinitie Coll. Hall, vvhere he had lost his money at game the night before, in Trauers on Psal. 111. Ita hae nugae seria ducunt In mala. - Hor. art.a sad and an heauie Lot (as it oft falleth out) of that pFinis ludi debitus, non propter cupiditat…m, sed propter recreationem & socialitat…m. Astesan in sum. l… 5. tit. 30. §. 1.which should be meerely for recreation and delight. Thou makest thy selfe both a Sinner, whosoeuer thou art, in so doing, by taking that from thy brother, that neither he ought to part with, nor thou to receiue; and a Partner also with him in his sinne, whereby he mispendeth, or hazardeth the mispending of that, which he ought otherwise to imploy.
But it is not lawfull at all then, may some say, for a man to receiue any gaine, or liue in any wise by Game?
I answer in some kind, and in some case it may, and that either ordinarily or extraordinarily.
Ordinarily those may be said to liue lawfully by Game, whose trades & professions are imployed in whole or in part in making, prouiding, selling, & vttering such instruments or other furniture as are vsed commonly in Game, as Bowyers, and Fletchers, and Turners, and Dice-caruers, and Card-makers, and Haberdashers of small wares: For if the games themselues be lawfull, qNimis ergo rigidi, qui peccati reos peragu…t omnes re…um e…usmodi aut mercatores aut artifices. Antonin. sum. pa…. 2. tit. 1. c. 23. §. 14. & alij. Cautiùs paulò aequiusque ex Gabr. Biel super 4. sent. Guil. Pepin. de confess. tract. 2 p. 3. c. 6.the callings are not vnlawfull whereby men are set on worke to prouide necessaries for the same, which could not otherwise so commonly, or so conueniently be had.
Extraordinarily a man may sometime also by the Game it selfe receiue gaine; as thus: Suppose a man of good wealth either being euill at ease or otherwise desirous to recreate himselfe, calleth in a poore man from his trade or his worke that he is otherwise imployed in, to accompanie him in his game, which he cannot vse without companie; it is not vnlawfull for the poore man so accompanying the rich, to receiue some gaine from him, as a reward of his imployment with him, and in liew of that losse, which he sustaineth by intermitting of his owne worke. But among equals, or others ordinarily, that play togither for mutuall recreation and delight, for the one to enrich, or to desire to enrich himselfe by the others damage and losse, rforeign. Ar…st. t. Ethic. Nicom. l. 4. c 1.it is a note of a base and an illiberall disposition, and against the nature of disport, which ought to be free.
The Rule then is here, that sforeign. Plut. symp. probl. l. 7 c. 7. Neque enim ludus est, vbi census volnitur in tabula, & ludus fit de periculo, & de ludo periculum, vt Ambr. de Tob. c. 11.Play be vsed as play; for pleasure, not for profit; for game not for gaine: and as no man therefore ought to wast his pretious time or his estate thereat, and to buy his recreation at so deare a rate as were the expence and losse of either; so neither ought any man to seeke or desire by play to encrease or aduance his estate, or to make a prey and a spoile of him that he plaieth with.
§ 6. Fourthly recreation must be vsed inoffensiuely, or tFennor recreat. rule gen. 2.without offence. For if u1. Cor. 10.31, 32.in all things regard is to be had hereunto, then in recreation also among the rest: if *Ibid & Rom. 14.20.in eating and drinking matters of more and greater necessitie, then much more in things lighter and of lesse weight, as being matter of meere delight onelyonly, which may otherwaies also well be had.
Now the offence that may be giuen by game is either generall or speciall; publike or priuate; in regard of our superiours or in regard of our equals.
Publike offence may be giuen to the Lawes and State we liue vnderunder by common vse of xFennor of rec…eat. rule spec. 2.such Games as are by the Law made vnlawfull. ySee Field of the Church, booke 4. chap. 32, 33, 34.For howsoeuer it be true indeed that positiue Lawes, as they are such, doe not simply binde the conscience, nor alter the nature of things lawfull and indifferent in themselues; yet zQuamuis peccet quis transgrediendo l…ges humanas, tamen non ligant …oscientiam: pat…t per simile de praeceptis medicorum, quae d…spicere quis non potest s…ne peccato, & tamen non ligant conscientiā. Gerson de vita spirit. lect. 4. cor…l. 5.may men by the breach of them become guiltie of sinne in Gods sight, where they restraine for good and wholesome ends the vse of things euen indifferent, partly through contempt of supreame 1Rom. 13.1.2. Tit. 2.1.1. Pet. 2.13, 14authoritie enacting them; and partly also through hindrance of the publike vtilitie aimed at in them: which is either of them seuerally, (much more both of them iointly) sufficient to make a man stand guilty of sin against God.
The like is to be said of those that liue in such Churches where the vse of some particular Games is held vnlawfull or inhibited; a1. Cor. 11.16. & 14.33. Quod neque contra fidem, neque contra bonos mores iniungitur, in lifferenter est habendum, & pro corum inter quos viuitur, societate seruandū est. Aug. epist. 118. c. 2, Cum Roma… venio, ieiuno Sabbato; cum hîc sum, no… ieiuno: sic etiam tu, ad quam for…è Ecclesiam v…eris, eius morem seruae, si cuiquam non vis esse scandalo, ne… quenquam tibi. Ambrosius olim Augustino, qu…d & ipse pro coelesti oraculo suscepisse se ait ibid. Faciat quisque quod in ca Ecclesia in quam venit, inue…rit. Aug. ibid. c. 5. Vise & cundem de d…ctr. Christ. l 3. c. 13.eueryevery one being bound bContra rationem nemo sobriꝰ contra Scripturas nemo Christianꝰ, contra Ecclesiā nemo pacificꝰ senserit. Aug. de Trin. l. 4 c. 6. Ego m…lim dic…re, secerit, vel, faciendum censuerit.for peace and quietnes sake to conforme himselfe in things indifferent to the Church hee liueth in.
As also of those that liue vnderunder the ministery of such Pastors as are of a contrarie iudgement in this point: the Apostle requiring Christian men not to cforeign. Hebr. 13.17.obey them onelyonly, but to yeeld vntounto them that hauehave the ouer sight of them, and that watch ouer them for their soules safetie; that is, not onelyonly to be ruled by them for necessarie duties, and such as they shall be able to conuince them of by the euidence of Gods word; but to be ouer ruled also by them in matters of indifferencie, when they shall deeme somewhat vnlawfull that may well be forborne, though either the grounds of such iudgement of theirs be insufficient, or their people be not throughly conuinced of the same.
Neither ought children or seruants to take liberty to themselues for the vse of such games, as their parents or masters vnderunder whose gouernment they are, shall thinke good to restraine and to inhibite in their houses; where the Law both of dEphes. 6.1, 5. Colos. 3.20, 22.God and man hath giuen them a power of commaund: the breach whereof therefore may cause guilt of sinne euen in Gods sight.
So that the rule here is, that Men be content to bee restrained in matter of game for the ordinarie vse of it, by the Church and State they liue in, by the Pastor they liue vnderunder, or by the Master they serue with.
Now as offence may be giuen publikely or generally to those, that we liue vnderunder or among, so may offence be giuen also to those, that wee conuerse with in priuate. For which cause therefore are these games to be forborne in some cases in regard of our brethren, that either making scruple and doubt of them, or being perswaded in iudgement of the vnlawfulnesse of them, may there-through either offend with vsus, or be offended at vsus. For eFennor of recreat rule gen. 4. & spec. 3.that is not indifferent, that is done with offence: since f1. Cor. 10.32, 33.wee ought not vnnecessarily to giuegive offence vntounto any; but gRom. 15.1, 2.to seeke to please others as well as our selues, and that now and then euen h1. Cor. 10.33.with displeasing of our selues; doing that therein for them, that iRom. 15.3.Christ once did for vsus. And therefore, kRom. 14 21.it is not good, saith the Apostle, to eate flesh or drinke wine, or to do ought whereby thy brother may stumble, or be offended, or be weakned. And vndoubtedly, if lR…m 14.20.it be euill for a man, when he eateth with offence; then it is no lesse euill to him, when he gameth with offence.
Now in this kinde we may offend two waies.
First when we cause others to sinne, and so to offend with vsus, not by partaking with vsus in sinne, but by partaking with vsus in that, which though it be no sinne in it selfe, yet mRom. 14 22, 23is it a sinne vntounto them, because they hold it to be such. For nRom. 14.14.to him that holdeth a thing to be vncleane, to him it is vncleane; and him therefore o1. Cor. 8.7.it de…ileth in the doing of it or dealing with it. p1. Cor. 8.9, 10, 11, 12.Whereas then by thy practise thou encouragest such an one to doe the like to that thou doest, as is vnresolued in the point, thou laiest a stumbling blocke before him, who either qLeuit. 19.14. Deut 27.8.for dimnesse of sight discerneth it not, or rHeb. 12.12, 13.for weaknes of limme auoideth it not, and so by occasion of thy default stumbleth and falleth.
Secondly when we cause others to be offended at vsus, and to thinke euill of vsus, as being such as make no conscience of our courses; because we vse that which they supposing to be sinne, suppose withall that we cannot but see to be sinne. For sforeign. Clem. Alex. in pro…r…pt.it is the common guise of most men to thinke that eueryevery one should see presently what themselues once apprehend. To giuegive offence therefore in this case in this kinde, it is a wrong to our selues, in causing others though iniustly and vndeseruedly to thinke euill of vsus, and tRom. 14.16. 1. Cor. 10.28, 29, 30.making our commodity and Christian liberty to be euill spoken of. A thing not to be lightly regarded of vsus, what other, our brethren especially shall thinke of, or speake by vsus: since uEccl. 2.1. foreigna good name is, as the holy Ghost saith, better then a good ointment; and *Prouerb. 22.1. foreigna good report desireable aboue riches and much treasure. Yea considering that xQui…quid recipitur, recipitur ad modum recipientis. Receptiu…m nonrecipit per …dum imprimentis, sed per modum receptiuita…. Scal. de sub…l. exerc. 16. §. 2.the efficacie of the agent consisteth much in the disposition of the patient: and that It is hard therefore, as a yD. Hall medit. 99. cent. 1.worthy Diuine of ours well obserueth, for a man euer to doe good on others, vnlesse he be reputed good himselfe: wee hauehave great cause euen in this regard also to be wary and carefull zRom. 12.17. 2. Cor. 8.21 cauens & tibi à peccato, & illis à scandalo. Bernard. de tempor. serm. 74. foreign. Clem. Alex. p…edag. lib. 3. c. 11.as well of keeping our credit good with men, as our conscience cleare to God, 1Opus est bona fama apud homines, bona conscientia apud Deum. August al…cubi.as well our name and fame vnstained in regard of the one, as our hearts and hands vntainted in regard of the other. Otherwise, 2Conscientia necessaria est tibi, fama proximo: qui fidens conscientia suae fama… negligit, crudelis est. Aug. ad fratr. in erem. serm. 52.if relying wholy vponupon the one we grow carelesse of the other, wee shall in so doing deale, not only cruelly and vncharitably as concerning our brethren, but vnwisely also and inconsiderately as concerning our selues. It is a wrong therefore to thy selfe, in that aRom. 14.16.thou causest thy selfe to be euill thought of without cause: it is a wrong to thy brother, in that bRom. 14.10.thou giuest him occasion to offend in misiudging of thee. It is a sinne cRom. 14.13, 14, 15.against charity; for it is a breach of charitie to do that needlesly that may vex thy weake brothers minde; dRom. 14.17, 18, 19.against peace and concord, giuing occasion of vaine and needelesse disagreement; yea euen against piety too; for e1. Cor. 8.11.in offending thy weake brother thou sinnest against Christ; in occasioning him to stumble and fall, (so much as in thee lieth) fRom. 14.15, 20. 1. Cor. 8.12.thou destroiest him that Christ died for. And therefore where thou findest that thy liberty doth or may in likelihood offend, there gRom. 14.16. 1. Cor. 10.29.for thine owne sake, for hR…m 14▪13, 15.thy brothers sake, for iRom. 14.1. 1. Cor. 8.7.his weaknesse sake, for kRom. 14.15, 18.Christ thy Sauiours sake forbeare: lRom. 14.22.hold thy faith within thy selfe; keepe thy knowledge to thy selfe; and say with m1. Cor. 8.13.the Apostle, If cards or tables offend my brother, I will neuer play at them while the world standeth, that I may not offend him.
The rule here is in a word, that It is not lawfull to play needlesly before or with those that hold such games vnlawfull, and who it is likely will in that regard take occasion of offense at it.
§ 7. Fiftly our recreations are to be vsed prudently and prouidently in regard of our selues, as well as inoffensiuely in regard of others: it being a point of spirituall wisedome therefore, to forbeare the vse of such games either in whole or in part, as either may be, or we hauehave found to be, occasions of sinne to vsus. For as n1. Cor. 10.23.the former made them inconuenient, so o1. Cor. 6.12.this maketh them vnexpedient, when they may, and so far forth as they may, endanger vsus by sinne.
In part they are to bee forborne in some cases, when not the game it selfe, but the manner of it (which yet may be reformed by vsus) occasioneth the euill. Where commeth to bee condemned againe that eagernesse in game, that wee spake of before, that playing for great summes, not in regard of it selfe alone, and the losse that it bringeth with it; but further also in regard of those pSubstantijs perditis in blasphemias erumpant. C. l. 3. tit. 43.grieuous abuses and enormities that it vsually occasioneth men to break forth into. For let men say what they will, that it is all one to them whether they win or loose, (as qB. King on Ion. lect. 9.a reuerend Prelate of ours yet liuing, whose words I oft willingly vse in this argument, well saith,) in such profusion of substance, as the losse cannot but pinch, so mens passions cannot but bee moued, and a troope of wretched sinnes commonly ensueth, swearing, for swearing, cursing, banning, defying, heart-burning, quarelling, fighting, spilling of blood, vnsupportable sorowes of heart, cursed despaire, selfe-executions, weedes able to blemish and disgrace the lawfullest recreation that is▪ wheresoeuer they be found, as *Diripi…n… que dapes, contactuque omnia …oedant Immundo. Virg. Aen. lib. 3.the Harpies defiled the cleanest meates.
Againe in some cases these games are in this regard wholy to be forborne. For where a man shall finde his owne disposition to be such as he cannot vse them at all ordinarily without much distemper, that he cannot containe himselfe when the cards or dice go against him, but that hee is ready to breake out into prophane and bad language; or that he cannot endure to be beaten at play without wrath and vexation and disquiet of minde; or though he can at sometime with somewhat adoe suppresse his vnruly passions and perturbations in this kinde, yet that ordinarily and vsually hee is ouertaken on these occasions, and in danger therefore to be ensnared and entangled that way; there it is best for a man rIn dubijs semitā debemus eligere tutiorem. Clens. 3. decretal. l. 5. tit. 12. c. 11. In ambiguis via tutior eligenda. Gersonin reg. m…r.to take the safer side, and as sIob 30.1.Iob made a couenant with his eyes, so to make a couenant with his hands not to handle cards or dice, which the rule of inexpediencie here striketh out of his hands.
Yea by the former rule for a man to ioyne in play with those whom he knoweth to be such is no lesse euill vntounto him, then it were to vse it in the like case himselfe.
The rule then here is that we vse not these games vnlesse we can rest quiet and content with the euent of them: and againe, if we can, that we doe so vse them, that we may not be tempted to disquiet and discontent thereupon. Agreeable whereunto are those golden rules of our gratious Soueraigne concerning play to his sonne; tIacob. Rex foreign lib. 3.First ere ye play, consider ye doe it onelyonly for your recreation, and resolue to hazard the losse of all that ye play; and next, for that cause play no more then you care to cast among Pages: otherwise if you cannot keepe these rules, my counsell is that all-vtterly yee abstaine from these plaies: for neither a mad passion for losse, nor falshood vsed for desire of gaine can be called play;
§ 8. Sixtly and lastly these recreations are to be vsed reuerently and religiously, that is, with such due reuerence and regard of Gods maiesty, and of his presence and prouidence, as the nature of the busines that we are about doth either exact or admit. For Christian men are to doe all things whatsoeuer u1 Cor. 10 31.to the glory of God, and *Colos. 3.17.in the name of Christ Iesus, xEphes. 5.20. 1. Thes. 5.18.with thanksgiuing vntounto God: and all their actions are to be y1. Tim. 4.4, 5.sanctified vntounto them by the word and by praier.
Now this Caueat excludeth two extreames, Prophanesse and Presumptuousnes. First Prophanesse, that we behaue not our selues in play prophanely and vngodlily: that we so play, that we shut not God out at doores; so play that we zFr. Marbury on Psal. 32.make not the Deuill our play-fellow: Remembring that 1Psal. 119.1…8.wee play in Gods presence, as well as pray in Gods presence; and that there is a prouidence of God watching ouer vsus as well while we play, as while wee sleepe; yea that 2Zech. 3.10 & 8.5, 10, 11, 12.by his goodnesse wee hauehave freedome and libertie as well for our sports and pleasures and lawfull delights, as for other our sager and more serious affaires: which are therefore as well the one as the other to be vsed with acknowledgement of Gods mercy and goodnesse, and of his gratious prouidence, whereby we enioy them, with freedome and liberty for them, not to the dishonour of him, from whom we hauehave the free vse of them.
Secondly it excludeth Presumptuousnes; that howsoeuer we hauehave an eie vntounto and take notice of Gods prouidence thus in generall, yet we take heed how we attempt to draw downe or call in his immediate prouidence or speciall presence in play to stickle betweene vsus and those we play with. aB. King on Ion. lect. 9.As that we be not so grosse (to vse againe the words of that worthy Prelate) on the one side as to make Fortune our Goddesse, as assigning good or euill lucke vntounto her; so that we be not so saucie on the other side, as to call Gods maiestie from heauen (to guide our game, or to further our play, or) to determine our doubts: for we looke not so high in such friuolous and gamesome quarells, but as we carelesly vndertake them, so we follow them as lightly, and end them as merily. And therefore to say, as some vse, in play; God send mee such a card, or such a chaunce of the Dice, or, I pray God I may win this or that game, is too saucie and malapert behauiour for any.
But, will some say, may not a man lawfully pray for whatsoeuer he may wish or desire? or b1. Tim 4.4, 5.are not all our actions to be sanctified by praier? as was formerly said.
I answere: True it is that eueryevery action of a Christian man is to be sanctified by praier either generall or speciall, but not eueryevery action with eueryevery sort and manner of petition or praier. A man may pray for his recreations, that he may cary himselfe cforeign.soberly and without offence in them, and that euen by them he may be the better fitted for better things: and such praier is sufficient to sanctifie them to him conceiued either in generall or in speciall, as he findeth and feeleth his heart affected, and as occasions and circumstances either admit or require it. This then in game ought to be a mans generall desire, which he may also by praier lawfully impart to God, if hee please. Beside which other againe more particular desires a man may hauehave also in game, as to win rather then to loose, to ouercome rather then to bee conquered; neither are such desires euill, so they be moderate; (for they are idle and friuolous, yea dangerous where they grow excessiue and immoderate, being other then befitteth the nature of that which they concerne) yet are they not such as it is seemely to acquaint God withall. For the better conceiuing whereof consider we thus much: that dTo desire is not to pray, but sheweth what wee approue. H Smith in Pilgrims wish.eueryevery desire is not by and by a praier; albeit eueryevery praier ordinarily import some desire; neither is eueryevery lawfull desire a fit matter for praier. For prayer is a wish or desire of the heart directed vntounto God. But many things we desire and may lawfully desire, which yet are not matters of that moment as may be fit to acquaint God in particular with our desire of them, or to direct our petitions in speciall manner to him for them; much lesse to expect or require at Gods hand any speciall worke or helpe of his for the effecting of them. And of this kinde are those latter sort of desires; of which to say therefore in game, I pray God I may win, or, I would to God I might hauehave such a card, or such a cast, is too too much presumptuousnes, and will not well stand with that reuerent respect that each one of vsus oweth to Gods maiestie.
The rule then is here, that as we exclude not Gods presence inplay; so we call not in his prouidence to further our play. It is one thing to play before the Prince and in his presence, an other thing eEaslie histor. of Gospell.to call him in to stickle betweene vsus at some question about a measuring cast: So it is one thing to play as before God and in his presence; and another thing it is to make God our play-fellow, or to call him in to help and further our game, that which a Christian man may not doe.
§ 9. And these be the Cautions that I hauehave thought good to propound for the limiting and rectifying of the vse of these games: Which cautions, I confesse, the most of them are such, as concerne game in generall, (fNon minus otij quàm negotij… tio…em ext…re op…rtere. Cato orig. l. 1. Cic. pro Planc. & ad Attic. l. 1. epist. 2…. Colum de re rust. l. 2. c. 22. Symmach. l 11. ep. 1. & Sidon. l. 5. ep. 14. foreign. Arist. polit. l. 8. c 3. contra quem Galba quò … nemo ra…ionē otij sui reddere cogeretur. Suet. Galb. c 9. of which as well as of more serious and sad matters either ciuill or sacred, account also must be giuen vntounto God) and in that regard are not so proper and peculiar to this particular kinde of Lot. Yet I supposed it not amisse to point at them, and in some sort also to presse them: partly that I might not be taxed and censured as a Pleader for sin and such abuses as are common as well in these game as in other, by meanes whereof those that condemne all Lots vsed in game simply are wont to take occasion to make them in generall more odious: and partly also that no prophane person that abuseth any of these or other the like games, might be able to take any colour of aduantage by ought that hath beene spoken of the lawfulnesse of the games themselues in themselues simply considered, to iustifie his owne abuse of them in mispending his time, or wasting his estate at them, or otherwise inconsiderately and irreligiously abusing them: which it may be some would hauehave done, had I beene silent in this part, and propounded such Cautions onelyonly as the nature of the Lot it selfe might seeme to require.
Yea but, will some say, had it not beene much better to hauehave passed ouer all this with silence, knowing your iudgement in this point to be such as differeth from diuers very reuerend and religious? Or is it not in this case, as gVt facilius est, ita tu…ius qucque omnes imagines è templis submouere, quàm impetrare, vt nec modus praeterea… ur, n…c superstiti… admisceatur. Eras. in cataches. Non vti, quàm non abuti facilius. Tertull. de coron.one sometime said of Images, an easier matter wholy to take away the vse of them, then to keepe them free from abuse?
Hereunto I answere: First, these abuses are common to all kinde of game: they accompany other games as well as these in those that be euill minded and prophanely disposed. And the like therefore in that regard may be said either of all other games, or of any other particular game, at least in ordinarie vse.
Secondly, it is true indeede, that where the vse and the abuse of a thing are so enwrapped and entangled together, that they cannot be easily seuered the one from the other, there the vse of the thing it selfe, if it be vnnecessarie otherwise, would wholy be abandoned. But in these games the vse and the abuse may, for the most part, (some speciall dispositions onelyonly excepted,) by those that desire to walke in the feare of God, easily be seuered. For as for those that make no conscience of their courses, they will not be disswaded from them, though it be neuer so euidently discouered vntounto them in what manner they abuse them, and by their abuse of them make that euill and vnlawfull to themselues, that otherwise were not such in it selfe. And for those that feare God, they may with ease as well rectifie and sanctifie these lusorious Lots to themselues, as they may any other games of the like vse, and as easily seuer them from such abuses as are commonly committed in them, as they may other disports, as draughts, and boules and the like, that are commonly vsed and generally allowed.
Thirdly, though many godly dissent, yet, I am sure, many, and, I suppose, more by many, both reuerend and religious concurre. And the truth is needfull to be knowne, especially concerning matters in common practise, that men may hauehave whereby to informe themselues aright.
And lastly, though the mindes and iudgements of others were not knowne; yet were not a truth to be concealed, because some few godly hauehave denied or opposed it, and none publikely by writing hauehave contradicted them in it, especially being a point, very needfull to be knowne.
§ 10. For my selfe, I was at first the rather induced to deliuer my iudgement in the point the more largely (hauing entred into this discourse of Lots in generall by pursuite of hIon. chap. 1.that Scripture that then I dealt with, though far then from any purpose to publish ought of this argument) vponupon these considerations.
First I considered that iVise Ioan. Mi…er in consolat. t…mor. conscient. part. 3. c. 1. & I…an. de Tamba…o consolat. Theolog. l. 14.….5.there is a fault as well in streightning as in widening of Gods way; and a subtiltie of Satan as well in the one as in the other. For *Ambulandū est in virtutum doctrina via regia, vt ne… strictius fiat Dei mandatum nec latius quàm ipse mā dauerit: quamuis inde p…ssint aliqui aut libertatem mal…tiae velamen sumere, aut è contra in despera…tonem corruere. Gerson in regul moral. & Ioan. Nid…r. cons… lat. timor. conscient. part. 3. c. 20.in the one he doth as a Iugler that by putting a paire of false spectacles on a mans nose maketh the bridge seeme broader then indeed it is, that he is to go ouer, that so he may without feare step aside and fall in; and so he dealeth with the dissolute: In the other he doth as a Magitian that sheweth a man the bridge that he is to passe, through a false glasse of an other kinde, that representeth it as narrow as the edge of a rapier or the point of a needle, that so hee may terrifie him from attempting to go ouer it; and thus dealeth hee with those that be ouer-timerous and full of scruple. And that it is not good therefore by possessing of men's mindes with vnnecessarie scruples, either to discourage those that be comming on to some louelove and liking of the good waies of God, or k1. Cor. 735.to cast those that are already come on into snares of mens knitting, lValdè periculosum est arctiores laqueos induere cō s…entijs, quàm quibus verbo Domini stringantur. Caluin. in…ie l. 3. c. 10 § 1.tying them in stricter and streiter bonds then God himselfe hath done, and making more things vnlawfull then the word of God hath made. Yea that it is in truth a spice and a branch of mforeign. Timor Det inanis. Cic. de nat. Deor. l. 1.superstition, as well for a man to suspect that those things displease God▪ which indeed doe not, as for a man to suppose that the creature can do that which indeed it cannot do.
Secondly, I considered that many (as I am verily perswaded) truly fearing God, and sincerely religious, hauehave vsed and doe commonly vse these games; and besides, that many well affected are and hauehave beene constrained in regard of scruple in this kinde, to straine themselues to some inconueniences by the refusall of them, when by those whom they hauehave had dependance vponupon, or familiaritie withall, they hauehave beene vrged occasionally thereunto. It seemed fit and needfull therefore to be knowne, what ground and warrant both the one had, and the other might hauehave for the vse of them; which were I not vponupon due and diligent discussion, and that not of late only, vndoubtedly perswaded to be sound and firme, farre should it hauehave beene from me euer to hauehave opened my mouth in this Argument.
Thirdly, I considered that the Arguments and Grounds whereupon these Games are condemned, hauehave made many stagger in the necessary vse of serious ciuill Lots, which by occasion of bargaines bought in common betweene them and others, they are enforced oft to vse, but hauehave doubted whether they might lawfully giuegive consent vntounto or no. That which was indeed the first occasion of my searching and sifting out more narowly the nature of Lots in generall. And certaine it is, admit we the principall arguments vsed against this kinde of L…ts for good, and we vtterly ouerthrow all kinde of L…ts whatsoeuer.
Fourthly, I considered the great offence and scandall that is taken by diuers of contrary iudgement against those that vse these games, though neuer so soberly and seasonably, as they suppose, on good ground: a meanes oft of much heart-burning and of breach of Christian affection, yea of nS…nsis…epe d…lens & gemens mulias infirmorū perturbationes fi…ri per quorundā fratrum cōtentiosam obstinationē & superstitiosam timilitatē, qui in re…us huinsmodi, que neque Scripturae sanctae autoritate, neque vniuersalis Ecclesiae traditione, ne que vi… corrigendae vtilitate, ad certum possunt terminum peruenire, … quiae su…st qualiscunque ratiocinatio cogi…antis, aut quia insua p…ria sicipse consue…it, aut quia ibi vi…it, vbi pere grinationē suā quo remotiorē à suis, …ò doctiorē factā putat, tam litigiosas excitant quaesti… nes, vt nisi quod ipsi faciunt, nibil rectū existimēt. August. epist. 118. cap. 2.peremptorie, vncharitable and vnchristian censuring either other: Such being commonly our corruption, and the naturall disposition of the most, that diuersitie of iudgment, especially manifested by practise, breedeth alienation of affection, though indeede oMineat inter sententia discordes beneu…l…ntiae …ōcordia. Erasm. ad Euangelic…s. Nam Non ealem sentire bonis de reb… eisaē, Iucolumilicuit semp raemici…ia, vt ex …aeo K…pler. de stell. non. & alȳ. Addo etiam quod Quintilianus habet, Et iudicium animi … damnum affectus proferre.it ought not so to doe. Considering therefore that these games can hardly be wholly remoued, being so common, so generall, so vsuall with the most eueryevery where, I supposed it would not be vnfit to assay, if by discouerie of the ground of them, such scandall and offence might be staied, and Christian concord and amitie in part procured and maintained betweene such as were before diuersly minded in this matter; so many of them at least as might heare and apprehend the force and weight of the former Arguments, and be brought to see the inualiditie and insufficiencie of their owne grounds against them. Wherein what I hauehave done (mine endeuour hath beene to doe it) let the iudicious and vnpartiall whosoeuer, be Iudges.
To draw to a conclusion, I could wish in this case, as pAct. 26.29. 1. Cor. 7.7.the Apostle doth in some other cases, that eueryevery one were affected in this point as qNon mea magnanimo depugnat tessera talo: Senio nec n…strum cum cane quassat ehur. Hac mihi charta …uces, ha… esi mihi charta fritillus. Martial. lib. 13. epigr. 1. Et quod Plin. epist. 6. lib. 9. de Circe…sibus; Capio aliquam voluptatem quòd hac v…luptate non capiar.my selfe: to wit, that albeit in iudgement they be rightly informed of the truth concerning the lawfulnesse of these games in themselues, yet that in godly discretion (which I wish yet *Equidem ni…il tale habeo; …abentes tam…n fero. Plin. epist. 17. l 9. de morionibus.without preiudice to any that vse them as they ought) they would rather abandon them and forbeare the vse of them; considering the too▪too common and ordinary abuse of them, and that many, it may be, among whom they liue, may remaine vnresolued and vnsatisfied concerning the lawfulnesse of them. But because rOptandum magi… quàm sperandum.this is rather matter of wish then of hope, my second suit shall be the same with that which the Apostle maketh in the like case, to either side; sRom. 14 3.Let not him that plaieth, contemne him that plaieth not; nor let him that plaieth not, condemne him that plaieth. For, tRom. 14.10.Why contemnest thou thy brother? may I well say to the one: and, Why condemnest thou thy brother? may I as well say to the other. Why contemnest thou thy brother as too strict and strait-laced for forbearing of that thing, which he maketh scruple and doubt of, and hath no necessitie to doe? and *Mihi v…nari ne… vacat, nec libet. Plin. epist. 16. lib. 9. Neutri nostrū moriones arrident. Se… eis ego & tu capimur & ducimur, quae multos parti… vt inepta, partin… vt m…lestissima offend…nt D…mꝰ igitur alienis oblectationibus veniam, vt nostris impetremus. Ibid. 17.why on the other side condemnest thou thy brother as too dissolute and loose girt, for the doing of that, which he hath sufficient ground and warrant for out of Gods word? And to both sides say I, (and would to God I might with both sides preuaile not for this alone, but for all other controuersies afoot among vsus at this present) uRom. 14.19.Let vsus follow those things that may further peace; and xEphes. 4.15. veritatem in charitate sectemur.Seeke after the truth either of vsus in louelove: ready to yeeld with yAct. 18.26.Apollos to any, be he neuer so meane, that being otherwise minded then wee are, shall be able more throughly to instruct vsus in ought that wee were not so fully informed of before.