Nature and Use of Lots, Chapter 1
CHAP. I. What a Lot is; and Of Loterie in generall.
§ 1. THe aMultus & multiplex vbique sortium vsus. Peucer. de diuin: c. de sort: Vise sis & Hadr. Iun. miscel: l 2. c. 5. Nic: Serar. in Iosh: tom: 2. c. 7. q 17. Mar: Delrio: disq: Mag: tō. 2. l. 4. c. 2. q. 7. § 3. &c. 4. q. 1, 3. Et insra cap. 4. per totum cap. 6. § 1, 2. & cap. 10. per totum.vse of Lots and Lotery, as it is very ancient, so hath bin in all ages no less frequent among men of all sorts. And considering that those things that are most in vse, are by meanes of mans corruption most subiect to abuse;bAbusui maxim… sunt obnoxia, quae in vsu sunt frequentissimo. Meisner: sobr: Philos: p 1. praef. it ought not to seeme strange, if the like hath among the rest befallen Lots; if hauing bene so much in vse, they hauehave not bene free from much abuse; if hauing bene vsed by so many, they hauehave bin abused by the most. For c1 Tim. 4.4. cum. Tit. 1.15. Agg. 2.14, 15. Esai. 1.11.17.what Creature of God, or what Ordinance, be it ciuill or sacred, though good and holy in it selfe, is so happy, but that it receiueth, if not a deepe tincture, yet at least some slight fully, from the foule hands or defiled fingers of the most that deale with it. That the lawfull vse therefore of this Ordinance may be wisely discerned and warily seuered from the abuse of it (dforeign. Plutar: de …dul… & …me… : so that neither the vse of it be wholy banished and abandoned in regard of the abuse, as where Frend and Flatterer are both indiscreetly thrust out togither at one dore; nor yet way be giuen to the abuse of it while the right vse is admitted, as where the dore is vnheedily set open to Flattery while men hope to entertaine Friendship;) is the maine matter that in this whole Treatise is aymed at. Which that it may be the better and the more orderly performed, it will not be amisse that we endeuor to consider and conceiue aright, in the first place what the nature of a Lot is in generall; and next to that, what the seuerall sorts thereof are; whereby the warrantable and vnwarrantable vse of them may the more plainely appeare.
§ 2. A Lot therefore may be well thus either defined or described, that it is a casualty or casuall euent purposely applied to the deciding of some doubt.
In which definition or description so conceiued, (as in all other) are two things principally to be considered, the genus, as they terme it, that containeth the matter; and the forme or specificall difference of the thing defined.
The Genus, or the matter of a Lot is said to be a casualty, or some casuall euent, because that how soeuer in some kind of Lot some guesse may be giuen, yet the euent is mainly casuall, and it is the casualty of it, that is principally respected and necessarily required in it vntounto the constitution of a Lot. Those therefore reach a litle too farre that define a eSortes propriè dicuntur, cum aliquid fit, vt eius euent… confiderato occultū …liquid innetescat. Thom: sum: per 2•.2z. q. 95. a. 8. cum facimus aliquid, vt occultū aliquid nobis manifestetor. Ibid: art: 3. Nihil aliud est sortiri quā aliquid agere, ex enius euentu rē incognitam possimus deprehendere. Martyr. in 1 Sam: c. 10.Lot to be the doing of any thing whatsoeuer by the euent whereof some hidden thing may be discouered. For many things are and may be done for the discouery of hidden and vnknowne truths, which yet come not within the nature and compasse of a Lot. For example; A man suspecting his seruant to be light-fingred, layeth money as a bait in his way to tempt him withall, and thereby to try his honestie which he hath in some iealousie, which yet is no kind of Lot: to omit many other courses vsed ordinarily by those that are in place of authoritie and judicature for the finding out of malefactors and the discouery of crimes, in which yet there is no kind of Lotery, no more then of casualty. Whereas the matter of a Lot is euer some euent meerely casuall; as if a man to try whether his seruant be a theefe or no, shall put a scroll with his name in it, togither with others rolled vp seuerally into water, to see which will vnfold first, and thereby to determine and iudge of the party suspected whether he be guilty or guiltlesse of that crime. To which purpose tend those sayings of good Authors, that fSortiri est casum & tem…ritatē spectare, vbi nec ratio nec consilium valeat. Cicer: dediuin: l. 2.To vse Loterie is to put a thing from skill and counsell to temeritie and casualty. that gforeign dixit Euripides. Plut. sympos. l. 2. c. 10. Quo loco malè vulgò foreign nullo sensu. Et, Animae filiā sortē, insptè Rhidig: antiq lect. 14. c. 15.A Lot is the child of chance. that hSortis euenius nō est in nostra potestāte, sed quim casus tulerit. Ambr: ad Virgines.The issue of Lots is not in mans power, but is such as casualty casteth on vsus. that iQuid in …spotest esse certiquae fortuna monitu, pueri manu miscētur at que ducūtur? Cicidiuinat. l. 2.In Lotery there is no certainty. that kS…rs inter homi…es casu, non indicio agisol…t. Orig: ad Lev. hom: 9. Qui sorte legitur, humano indicio non …mprehenditur. Ambros… in Luc. cap. 1. Quid enim sore …st? idē propemodū quod micare, quod talos ia…ere, quod tesseras, quibꝰ in rebꝰ temeritas & casus, non ratio, nec consilium valcat. Cicidiuin: l. 2.Lots are not caried by reason and iudgement, nor by counsell and aduice: but lforeign. Isocr: Areopag.Chance and casualtie striketh the cheife stroke in them; if wee respect secondary causes.
It was no Lot therefore, but a meere mockery of a Lot, that *Vise Cicer: in Verr: 4.Verres sometime vsed, when a Priest being to be chosen by Lot at Syracusa, “The…mnesti nomen omnibꝰ inscribi eurauit.he caused the tickets or tokens that were cast into the Lot-pot to be signed all of them with one and the selfe same mans name: It was, I say, no Lotery, because there could be no casualty or vncertainty in the drawing of the tickets so signed. But of Chance or casualty we will speake more at large in the next Chapter.
§ 3. The forme or specificall difference of a Lot is taken from the vse and intent or purpose of the vser, or that whereunto this casualtie or casuall euent is applied; which is said to be the deciding or determining of some doubt, whether it be the defining of some act to be done hanging yet in suspence, or the discouery of some hidden and vnknowne truth in things done or suspected to be done already. And this is that which distinguisheth a Lot from all other casuall euents and accidents, and that maketh the casuall euent so vsed to be a Lot so iustly accounted and called. EueryEvery Lot therefore is casuall; and there can be no Lotery, where there is not casualty. But eueryevery casuall euent is not consequently a Lot: For many things fall out casually, and do befall men so continually in the whole course of their liues, which yet come not the most of them within compasse of a Lot: as, meeting of those by the way that they neuer minded or once dreamed of; lighting on some one in the street or at the market, whom they desired to speake with, while they are going about other businesse; the finding of some one thing while they looke after an other, or while they looke after nothing but go on in their way: These things and the like are casuall, but no lots; there is no lotery at all in them; because these things may befall a man will he, nil he, and do many times whether he regard them or no, whereas a Lot dependeth vponupon the will and purpose of the vser, who by applying the thing zsed to such ends and purposes, maketh a Lot of that which otherwise in it owne nature were none. But for a man to apply such a casuall thing or the casuall occurrence of any such thing to the discouering, defining, deciding, determining or directing of any truth vnknowne, euent vncertaine, or course vnresolued, is to vse it as a Lot, and to make a Lot of it; this being that that giueth the very essence of a Lot to it. To this agreeth that definition of a Lot and Lotery giuen by some others, who define mSorsest effectus fortuitus statuens de consilijs nostris. Aret. in problem: clas. 1. loc. 67.A Lot to be a casuall euent determining our purposes: (though that be somewhat too scant, and comprehend but one kind;) and, nSortibus vti est ex vario euentu seu dispositione alicuiꝰ rei sensibilis propesitae, dubium aliquod determinare. Lyra in Num. cap. 34. & in Prouerb. c. 16.Lotery (whereof more anon) to be the determining of some doubt or vncertainty by the variable euent or disposition of some sensible thing that we propound to our selues. Which latter definition, though it do not so exactly point out the precise matter of a Lot, as we shall afterward shew, yet doth fully comprehend the proper vse of a Lot, and that which iustly maketh the casuall euent to be so termed and esteemed.
§ 4. Out of that therefore which hath bene said of the nature of a Lot may be raised, as I take it, somewhat a better definition, or at least description of Lotery, to wit, that it is the deciding or determining of a doubt by some casuall euent. For that Lotery is not but where some question or controuersie is of some sort or other, a doubt of somewhat whither done or not done, or by whom, or in what manner done, or some deliberation concerning somewhat to be done or not done, or to be done either in this or that sort, which is by the Lot to be decided and determined, is a matter out of question, not denied of any, but agreed vponupon by all. Now whereas many and sundry, yea infinite in a manner are the meanes wherby questions and controuersies are determined, of all these it is oIn a Lot there must be 2 things: 1 a casuall act: & 2 the applying of that act to the determination of some controuersie. Perkins Cases of Consc: l. 3. s. 4. q. 2. resp. 2.some casualtie or casuall euent onelyonly that is made choise of for the determining of the doubt in that which we properly terme Lotery. In regard whereof as they wander farre from the right path in this point, pSerar. in Iosh: c. 7. q. 17. ex Plut: foreign Pythag: foreign. Suffragiadicit, qua fabis ferebantur. …. Steph: …ectè. Fabis & calculis in vrnam co…iectis Iudices legeba…t & suffragia forebant. Chy…re: in Ind: c. 1. & Lavat: in Prou: c. 16. Et contra Valla & Porta de suffragijs interpretantur quod Thucyd: l. 8. foreign & foreign; cum de sortitioni…us i… vtrumque dicatur.that confound qforeign. Suidas. Et inde foreign dicitur per i…cū A…istophani Equi…: populus Atheniensis. i. foreign, à fabis quibus foreign vtebantur, Hesych: Suid: & Aristoph: Schol.the suffrages or voices anciently vsed to be giuen either in election of Magistrates and Officers, or in matter of judicature for the acquiting or casting of the party in question by casting of rforeign. Lysias in Agorat. foreign Vlpian ad Demost: in Timar:beanes white or blacke, or of beades and stones, sforeign. Vlpian: ibid. foreign Aristoph: in Vesp: & Equ…: quas Hesych: foreign. Poll…x o…om: lib. 8. cap. 1. Suidas & Schol: Arist: ex Epaphroditi Lexico foreign interpretantur.or bones or shels whole or holed tforeign. Pollux l. 8. c 1. item Hesych: & Schol: Aristoph: vesp. visendus Casaub. ad Athen. l. 10. c. 18.into a pitcher or other vessel prepared to that purpose; (whereunto Alcibiades alluded sometime when he said, uforeign. Plut. Apophth.He would not trust his owne Mother with the tryall of his life when he could auoide it, for feare lest shee should vnwittingly cast in a blacke beane for a white:) with *foreign. Hesych: foreign. Et …inc Aristoph: Eccles foreign S…bal:the Loteries vsed in the like manner for the disposing of some offices and places of imployment also in the State, as if they were of the same nature, whereas indeed they are not. So they seeme to shoote also no lesse wide in this businesse, xDelrio disquis. Mag. l. 4. c 2. q…. § 2 …d sort… diuinitori… foreign refer…. Sch…ider: in lex pē tagl. ad diuisorias.that draw within the compasse of Lotery yNum. 17.18.the proofe of Aarons right to the Preisthood by that miraculous budding and fruit-bearing of his Almond-tree rod, zDelr…odisq Mag. l. 4. c. 4. q 4 § 2. per monomachi…m.the trials of quarrels in question of right by duels and combats, canonicall purgations, aIbid q 2. per sacramentū Euchar.by taking of the Hoast or the Eucharist, as also bIbid. q. 4 § 1 per aquam & ignem.by fire and water anciently vsed euen cVise C…md: Brit: & Versteg. c. 3.in these parts, dDelrio: ibid. c. 2. q. 7 § foreign sortibus adnumerat. & Bodin. damonoma c. 6. & Peu…er: de diuinat.diuination by mens names as foretelling their fortunes, and whether should preuaile either against other, and the like: the meanes in these cases whereby the doubt or controuersie is determined being not meerely casuall, and the decision of the doubt thereby therefore vnproperly so termed.
§ 5. Where let me adde yet one thing further, that it is not only necessary in the matter of Lotery, that the thing be casuall that is applied to the deciding of a doubt, but that it be thereto applied so far forth as it is casuall, (I speake in regard of the creature both vsing and vsed) not as it hath either in it owne nature, or in the conceit or counsell of those that make such vse of it, any speciall relation otherwise to the businesse thereby to be decided. An instance or two will helpe to cleare my meaning herein. For a man therefore requested to ride abroad on a rainy day with his frend, to say, I will ride, if it hold vp by noone, if it doe not, I will not stirre abroad: or for a man being crossed casually by an Hare on his way, to conjecture thereby of the euent of his iourney, and to determine thereupon of proceeding or stay, or of this or that successe in the same; there is in either of these cases a doubt decided by a casualtie, but that not considered as a casualtie, but as hauing otherwise a peculiar relation to the businesse intended, and the conueniency or inconueniency of it effected by it in the one and presaged by it in the other, and therefore making no Lotery: In which point also some of the former Authors seeme to faile, when they bring in eforeign Delrio disq. mag. l. 4. c. 2. q. 7. § 3.diuination by the flight of Fowles, and by their eating or refusing their food vnderunder this head. But for a man pressed in that manner to accompanie his frend, to say, we will draw cuts whether we shall stay or go, or whether I shall goe with you or you stay with me, and put off your iourney to some other time: or being vponupon the way togither, and disagreeing in opinion concerning the shaping of their course, to referre the question and controuersie betweene them to be decided by the flight of the next Fowle, or the footing of some Beast that hath gone before them on the way: here is matter of casualty regarded as it is meerely casuall, and in that respect applied to decide the present doubt, which no man therefore, I suppose, will deny to be Lotery indeed. And thus we see what both a Lot and Lotery is in generall, to wit, A Lot some casualty or euent meerely casuall purposely applied to the deciding of some doubt: and Lotery the deciding or determining of some question or controuersie by such casuall euents considered as they are such.