these things but only that we acknowledge every thing that happens to us to be an Effect of his Direction and Governance of the World And in this respect God is truly said to be the Cause of every thing excepting only the Evil of Sin which proceeds from the voluntary depravation of the Humane Nature Thus we may and ought to ascribe to God any Good Fortune that happens to us whether by matters depending upon Chance or any other way whatsoever though we do not think that he interposes after any particular or extraordinary manner for the determining of them Secondly This Proposition imports that God knowing before-hand all that happens in every kind and having it in his Power to hinder any part of it would not however put a stop to or divert the Course of Natural Causes to hinder the good Luck thus about to happen to any Person and that for special Reasons Tho' we cannot positively affirm that God had no such Reasons in his Eye because this is what we know nothing of Nor can we affirm that he had at least except God should please to reveal them to us or that we could fairly infer this by the Consequences of those Effects For the purpose The Great Lots lately drawn in England and Scotland are the Effects of Chance in the disposal whereof it is possible God might have some particular Reasons inducing him to give them to Those particular Men but it is possible too that he might not act upon any such particular Reasons He hath not revealed to us any thing of the Matter And the Consequences of that Advantage which some Persons gained have not produced Effects considerable enough to incline us to think that God had any particular Reasons for ordering those Benefits to those that enjoy them Thirdly This Proposition may signifie that God does interpose in casual Events after so particular a manner that he acts by an immediate Power and Providence in the Production of them And this is the usual Acceptation of the Words for otherwise Men have no reason to say that God presides over Lots and casual Events in any more particular manner than he does over all natural Effects whatsoever Now I am so far from denying that God can that I am well content to allow that he does upon several Occasions interpose after so extraordinary a manner as to make the Lot fall upon some certain Persons upon whom possibly it would not have fallen without such Interposition I shall explain my self by some Examples of this kind by and by But the thing I contend for is that generally speaking we cannot make God the immediate Author of good and ill Luck so as that he should bring this about by any supernatural and extraordinary Operation I am aware of one Passage in the Old Testament usually produced for Proof of the contrary Opinion But I hope to make it clear that it does not at all answer that purpose when I have first laid down the Reasons which induce me to believe that generally speaking God does not direct or concern himself with the Events of this kind more particularly than he does with those of any other kind whatsoever First I averr this Opinion to be A Supposition taken up without any Ground For I shall shew presently that there is nothing in Scripture to support it So that they who hold it have no other Refuge left than to prove it by the Consequences of such Events Now these Consequences as I said before are not of such Importance that the Finger of God should commonly be thought visible in them If the General Good of a Nation or Kingdom or of some Persons eminently serviceable to the Publick were the Result of such Events we then might probably conclude that God was more than ordinarily concerned to promote such good Effects But nothing of this kind yet appears nay we see quite contrary that several upon whom these Benefits have fallen make no other use of them than to be more profuse and vain in their Expences and make them either minister to their Pride or increase their Avarice And can any Man of common Sense suppose that God hath gone out of his Way as it were and wrought Miracles for the Advantage of the Vain and the Covetous Secondly If God act after a particular manner in Casual Events he either does it in All or in Some such only If in Some only let them be specified and let it be proved that such an Immediate Operation does not extend to the rest Now this is a Point never to be decided but by express Revelation or at least by Arguments drawn from Effects worthy of so particular a Providence Without one of these Proofs it is to no purpose to advance any such Distinction Now if God preside thus over all such Events and direct them by a positive and particular Act of his Will it will follow from hence that God works Miracles every Day for the sake of Men who it is but too plain are not worthy of them and in Places where we could hardly suspect that God should take any delight in exhibiting his Presence after an extraordinary manner They that play at Cards and Dice would at this rate engage God to declare for them by perpetual Wonders and the Groom-porters and Gaming-houses would have infinitely more Miracles wrought in them than ever the Temple it self or any other place had though we should take in all that stand upon Record or were ever done under the Old and New Testament I cannot tell whether such Consequences as these will go down with Others but for my own part I declare freely that there are very few things which I find my self less disposed to believe than that God works Miracles of this kind every Day for Gamesters Lotteries indeed are nothing near so frequent as Games but it is every whit as improbable that God should particularly interest himself in These as in Those For if the Placing of the Tickets be not the Effect of Chance but of a particular Providence then every Ticket drawn presents us with a fresh Miracle And as oft as Men shall take a fancy to set up new Lotteries God will be obliged if I may have leave to say so to come down from Heaven and regulate the Order of the Tickets He by his positive Assignment will dispense the Money to some and not to others without any visible reason of this difference whether we regard the Qualifications of the Persons or the Use they make of it Will those that have drawn the most considerable Benefits have the Confidence to say that their Merit was so much Superiour to Theirs who had only Blanks as to give them a better Title to the Favour of Heaven or have we any reasonable Assurance that this Success will dispose them to be more beneficent and charitable for the future This is an Enquiry which I charge upon their own Conscience to answer and what Time must inform
magnas bene gerendas divinitùs Adjuncta Fortuna De hujus autem hominis felicitate quo de nunc Agimus hac utar Moderatione dicendi non ut in illius potestate positam esse Fortunam sed ut praeterita meminisse reliqua sperare videamur It were easie to produce other Testimonies concerning Pompey's Good Fortune but there is no occasion at all for them It will be more agreeable to my present Design to Reflect alittle upon the Ill Fortune which befell him in the Civil War First of all when Caesar began to oppose him he was utterly unprovided of any Means to Resist him and under a necessity of quitting Rome and Italy to his Rival in an ignominious manner His Army in Spain under the Command of Afranius and Petreius was routed by Caesar without so much as one formal Battle He could not hinder him from passing out of Italy into Epirus tho' Caesar had no Fleet to withstand His. Caesar's Troops passed twice without Opposition He lost an Opportunity which was put into his Hands of defeating his Army which might all have been cut to pieces had he pursued the Advantage gained upon them in Epirus And in the Fight at Pharsalia where there was all the likelihood in the World of his beating Caesar he was so Vnfortunate that the very thing which in Appearance must have secured his Conquest was the very Occasion of his Ruine After this Defeat instead of retreating into Mauritania to King Juba who would most gladly have received and assisted him with all his Forces he unluckily threw himself into Egypt and was there Assassinated and Murdered just as he was going ashore Caesar on the Contrary had nothing but â—ood Fortune as we plainly see by his own commentaries and even the rashest and â—ost hazardous Undertakings prospered in his Hand His History is universally known and I need not insist upon Particulars I will therefore only detain the Reader with one single Passage taken out of Plutarch's Book Of the Fortune of the Romans Vpon leaving Brundusium says he the fourth of January he crossed the Sea successfully his Fortune getting the better of the Weather and the Season When he had found Pompey who was then in Epirus with his whole Army and Master both of the Field and the Sea though but a handful of his own Forces were with him those under Antonius and Sabinus being not yet come up to joyn him he boldly embarked in a small Vessel and set Sail without letting the Pilot know who he was and passing in the Disguise of a Servant A violent Storm springing up the Pilot began to tack and then discovering himself he said Go on my Lad and fear not spread all thy Sails to Fortune and take in all the Wind thou canst for thou hast Caesar and his Fortune on board thee Thus He was confident that this Good Fortune sailed and travelled with him that it encamped with him in the Army that it fought with him in his Battles in short that it never left him This made the Sea calm in the roughest Tempest this made Winter to him become as Summer this made Delay and Speed equally successful in the Event and inspired Cowards with Courage Nay which is yet more amazing this made Pompey flee and Ptolomy Murder his Friend that so Pompey might fall without Caesar having the Guilt of shedding his Son-in-law's Blood They who read this Book of Plutarch will find that he endeavours to represent the Greatness of the Roman Empire as an Effect of Good Fortune no less than of Conduct or Courage By these Examples it is plain and by infinite others it might be made appear that it is no new thing for Men to use those Words which in other Languages answer to Good and Ill Fortune in a sense denoting somewhat peculiar to this or that Person at least accompanying him for some Time and upon some Occasions which succeeds or defeats what he undertakes so as that his Prosperous or Disastrous Events cannot be charged upon his own Prudence or the Want of it Though Europe be at this Day Christian yet the Pagan Modes of Expression continue still in use and many Words are taken into common Speech which have scarce any Signification For after all what is this Je ne scay quoy which denominates Men Fortunate or Vnfortunate It can only be One of these Four things Either First Destiny which some heretofore and many even in our Days look â—pon as the Cause of all that happens in the World Or Secondly Fortune which is but another Name for Chance Or Thirdly what the Heathen called a Man 's Good or Evil Genius and some Christians still term his Good or Evil Angel Or else Lastly God himself Now I am positive that no Man without express Revelation can be assured that God or the Angels produce those Events for which we can assign no natural Cause and that Fortune and Destiny are merely imaginary things so that this pretended Principle of Good Luck is in effect nothing at all If a Man were with any Skill to examine those who think they understand themselves perfectly well when they talk of this Matter He would soon find them at a loss to make out their own Meaning If Socrates were alive again who had the knack of confounding Errours by driving Men to Absurdities with plain Questions he would quickly gravel the greatest part of those who talk of Good and Ill Luck by shewing them that they do not know what it is they would be at But it may perhaps be vain to expect that any Man should be found in this Art of Reasoning equal to that incomparable Philosopher And therefore we must content our selves with another Method of Disabusing Mankind by proving particularly that never a one of these Four things just now mentioned is the real Cause of Mens Good or Ill Luck either in Lotteries or in any other Matters which have no necessary Dependence upon the Skill anâ— Prudence of the Persons who engage iâ— them CHAP. III. That Destiny is not the Cause of Good Luck Ill Luck SEveral of the ancient Heathens and particularly the Sect of the Stoicks though every thing that happened to be the unavoidable Effect of Destiny And many no doubâ— at this Day tread in Their Steps from whence it is that we are so frequently told that No Man can avoid his Destiny and thaâ— so many Events are charged upon I know noâ— what Fatality which necessarily brings them to pass When the Stoicks heretofore were asked What they meant by Destiny they readily gave this Answer A certain Framâ— or Disposition of all things mutually linked together A Gell. L. vi c. 2. and moving it self by eternal Successions of Causes and Effects in such a Manner that nothing can break the Chain or divert its Course so that according to their Principles whatever at any time came to pass could not possibly but come to pass It were easie to shew from express
Testimonies of ancient Writers how generally this Opinion was received The Reader if he please may consult those quoted in the Margin for his farther Satisfaction * A Gell. L. vi c. 2. Diog. Laert. L. vii s 149. J. Lips de Constan L. i. c. 17. As I do â—ot intend to enlarge upon explainâ—ng the Opinion so neither do I â—pon the Arguments used either â—n Defence or in Prejudice of it The Whole of my Design is only â—o shew that They who attributed all things â—o such a Chain of Causes did not underâ—tand themselves nor had any Idea of what â—hey said in the Matter First then All they advanced concernâ—ng this Destiny was groundless and supposed â—nly and that too such a Notion as is of â—o service towards the clearing any one Diffiâ—ulty in the World For who ever told the Stoicks that every thing is necessarily and â—navoidably brought about in the Manner â—â—ve see it How did they know that Causes â—ct with such uncontroulable Power and that the Effects so inseparably follow them This was not sure revealed to them from Heaven They never pretended to such Divine Authority for it It was in truth a vulgar Opinion which They as well as many others espoused by Strength of Fancy There was not any inward Sentiment of their Mind reflecting upon the Fatality of their own Actions that had disposed them to it Let any Man examine his own Breast and say in good earnest whether he be throughly convinced that all the Resolutions he takes were such as he found himself necessarily determined to and that he could not possibly have resolved otherwise No Man I darâ— be consident who speaks sincerely is ablâ— to say this Can we then affirm that otheâ— Intelligent Beings which the Stoicks whâ— held an infinite Number of Gods of different Orders acknowledged to be in thâ— World have no Liberty neither but thaâ— They are dragg'd along in all they do by thâ— same Chain of Destiny It is evident no Maâ— can affirm this without saying what he neither does nor can know Now if such 〈◊〉 Spirit as our Humane Soul be free as we plainly find and feel it at least in abundance oâ— Instances and if there may be other Intelligent Substances free as well as this then it iâ— the vainest thing in the World to talk oâ— Fatality or Destiny when infinite Free Spirits do a thousand things which it was possible for them not to have done at all Buâ— without running the Matter so far this iâ— most certain that no Man can say that he assuredly knows that there are no free Agents or Causes in the World and consequently it must be allowed that Destiny is aâ— groundless Supposition and advanced without any Proof Nay it is the less defensible because of no use in Philosophy My meaning is that admitting the thing we are never the nearer giving an account of any one natural Effect than those who reject it Nay These indeed give a much more probable Account upon Their Principles than the former And if we make a Tryal now by applying this Notion to any common Case our own Experience will quickly demonstrate the Truth of what I say To keep close to my Subject I desire to know for instance whence it comes to pass that the Persons who had the greatest Benefits in the Lotteries lately drawn had those advantagious Lots and that a world of People who took out as many or more Tickets than They got nothing Will you think it an Answer to say This was brought about by a Chain of necessary Causes which disposed the Benefits and Blanks in such a certain Order Where are these necessary Causes which have produced this Effect It is ridiculous to assert such a thing as this without any Proof and to give a meer Supposition for a Reason of somewhat else and that too such a Supposition as it is impossible to give any probable appearance to Now if I on the other hand averr that this Combination of Tickets proceeds from the Motions given to them when they were mingled together without any knowledge or design of the Persons by whom they were so mingled this is what no Man can disprove me in If I proceed and say again that such a Motion is the Effect of a free Intelligent Substance who shakes the Boxes in which the Tickets lye more or less and who is guided more by Humour or Fancy than by Reason This again is what cannot be denied me Now then I will say such a one had the Great Lot because according to the Motion of the Tickets his Number came up against that Lot After which there is no reason for any farther enquiry For I ought not undertake nor is it possible for me to give the reason of that Motion and Order into which the Tickets were put without the Minglers knowing what effect it would produce nor why they shook the Boxes Ten times for instance rather than Nine or Eleven So that the Stoick's Fatality which some will have the Cause of good and bad Luck upon these Occasions is the fondest Imagination that can be But I have more against it still which is that They who use the words Fatality and Destiny have no Idea of what they say themselves and this is my Second Remark upon the particular Point now before us 'T is true they give several Definitions of these things which come at last to that already mentioned But they are such Definitions as do not shew that they have any clear and distinct or indeed any Idea at all of the thing they pretend to define This will soon be seen by examining Chrysippus his Definition in A. Gellius whose words in the Original are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is A Natural Connexion of all this Vniverse where from all Eternity one thing follows another constantly and regularly This Connexion he says afterwards is * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inviolable A. Gellius hath paraphrased it thus Sempiterna quaedam indeclinabilis series â—rerum Catena volvens semet ipsa sese implicans per aeternos Consequentiae ordines ex quibus apta connexaque est The rendring whereof strictly and literally as it is difficult so is it unnecessary because I have given the sense of it before Now in order to comprehend the Fallacy of these Terms we shall do well to observe that our Ideas may be reduced to Two sorts The First are of Things which have an actual existence without us The Other of such as our Mind forms to it self at pleasure and which have nothing in nature and reality which answers to our Ideas When I for example am looking upon a Tree and consider what it is that then presents it self to my thoughts this is an Idea of a thing really existing whether I think upon it or not But now when I form to my self an Idea of a Tree a Mile in heighth and bearing golden Apples this is a fanciful Idea and such
are commonly used at present Destiny they tell us is likewise taken for the particular Lot of each Person and for that Portion of Good or Evil ordinarily distributed to each Man One would think this Definition sufficiently clear and that all I have said upon this occasion might be abundantly confuted by having recourse to it And indeed did it import no more than barely the Events of Things without any regard to the Necessity of such Events or to some unknown Cause which determins and produces them the Difficulty would vanish But I assert that in using this word Men constantly imply in their Ideas of it this Cause and the Necessity of such Events The Academy have put this beyond dispute by the Examples they give as No Man can avoid his Destiny This is the Fate of Great Men or Great Common-wealths and the like The First of these makes manifestly for me For it is derived from the Pagan Idiom who constantly delivered their Minds after this manner Many Examples whereof Stobaeus hath left us in his eighth and ninth Chapters of the Collections of Natural Productions The two others upon enquiry will be found to confirm what I have said We commonly say 't is the Fate of Great Men to be more esteemed when dead than while yet living and we plainly mean by this not only that this very often happens but that their being so is the Effect of I know not what Fatality which entails Envy upon Virtue and Merit So again we say it is the Fate of Great Common-wealths to fall by their own Weight and to ruine themselves when they grow too Great By which is inferred that there is a certain Period and Measure of Greatness determined by Destiny to which when Common-wealths have once attained all beyond that tends to their decay and undoing Every Reader will easily recollect what he hath heard or read in Authors to this purpose Perhaps these Gentlemen thought Destiny and Fatality to be two distinct Things For they define the latter by calling it Vnavoidable Destiny which looks as if they had a Notion that there is a sort of Destiny which may be avoided They have likewise among their Examples put Fatal Destiny Now Fatal and Inevitable when applied to Destiny are mere Epithets and Expletives fit only for Poets when they want to make up a Verse but otherwise of no use at all M. Richelet seems to know no Destiny but that which is inevitable For his Definition of it is a Certain Disposition and Order of Providence which makes things infallibly come to pass This is in truth the Stoicks Notion put into Christian Language And thus Lipsius hath done in his Book of Constancy The Abbot Furetiere comes very near M. Richelet and defines Destiny thus A Disposition or Chain of Second Causes ordered by Providence which infers and produces a Necessity in the Event I shall not here contest these Definitions because my Eighth Chapter will oblige me to it where I propose to shew that God is not the Cause of what the World call Good Luck as is generally supposed But besides it is plain that They who use these words Destiny and Fatality think as little of Providence at that instant as if there were no such thing These Gentlemen indeed if we observe it strictly have defined what the word Destiny must signify if it signify any thing at all but by no means what the Generality of People intend by it when they speak it Now there is a vast difference between giving us a Definition of that which Men should mean by a Word and that which they generally do mean by it in common Discourse It is sufficient that from what hath gone before I may fairly conclude that Stoical Destiny or Fatality signifies nothing neither in the Books of the Ancient or Modern Writers nor in the Mouth of the Vulgar There is no real Being in Nature to which these Names properly belong and no thing is more loose and fantastical more confused and unintelligible than that arbitrary Idea which Men form of it in their own Minds A Man had much better say nothing than affirm that he Won or Lost in a Lottery because it was his Good or Ill Fate to do so I should think it much more excusable to declare I Won or Lost by Hocus pocus tempora bonus and think the Gibberish of common Jugglers the better Sense of the Two CHAP. IV. That the Terms Good or Ill Fortune frequently mean nothing no more than Chance What Sense this last Word is capable of THe second Cause usually assigned for Good or Ill Luck is Fortune or which is but another Name for the same thing Chance Now I think my self able to prove that these English words and those which answer to them in other Languages are as far from having any clear Significations as those treated of in the last Chapter But before I reprove the modern Use of these Words it will be proper to enquire what Notions the ancient Greeks and Romans had of them because from thence they are derived down to us If They were at a loss for their own Meaning in them it can hardly be expected that We should understand them better And we indeed are more to blame because Religion and Time ought to have enlightned our Understandings and taught us to speak more correctly than They did The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greek and Fortuna in Latin signified formerly what Fortune does in English but withal some unknown Principle by which a thousand Things came to pass without any necessity of their being thus or thus This is the Difference between Fortune and Destiny that the One supposes a necessary Cause of the Effects produced by it and the other excludes it * Phys L. 2. c. 4 5 6. Aristotle whose natural Philosophy is generally founded upon the Expressions and Notions of the People condemns the Philosophers who had written before him of a great Absurdity for not defining 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Fortune or Chance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because 't is clear he says beyond dispute that Fortune or Chance produce infinite Effects in Nature And though They had not thought so yet they ought to have spoken to them and so much the rather because they sometimes used these Words themselves For his own part he made no doubt but that there were such things as Fortune and Chance And this is his manner of Arguing upon them by which he discovers the Vulgar Forms of Speech to have oftentimes lain at the bottom of his Opinions In regard we see that some things come to pass always and others for the most part after the same manner this makes it plain that Fortune is not the Cause of any of these things That which is an Effect of Fortune cannot proceed from a necessary and regular Cause which always nor from such a one as generally Acts alike But now since some things there are besides these which
case that a Box full of Tickets for the purpose lyes upon a Table Those Tickets will all remain in the same situation till they are moved and that which lyes uppermost will infallibly be drawn first Here is no Chance in all this But if a Man shakes this Box several times without knowing what Alteration this shaking makes in the Order of the Tickets by the Will of that Person intervening upon this occasion and that in a manner altogether free Here is somewhat of Chance It is in the Choice of that Person whether he will shake the Box at all or not whether he will shake it more or less and to turn it as many different ways as he pleases In shaking and turning it he is guided purely by his own Humour without knowing what Effect this will have after all which that Ticket which comes next to hand is taken out without knowing to what Person it belongs This is the usual Manner of Drawing in Lotteries and this we may call meer Chance which makes such a Man's Ticket come up against such a Lot By this you see that Chance in proper speaking is Nothing And that when we say Such a Hit is owing to Chance the true meaning of it is that this is not meerly the Mechanical Effect of the Motion of the Tickets but that some Intelligent Being contributed to it which gave its free Assistance in the thing without knowing what would be the Consequence or how that Change in the Tickets could be made So that the Word is rather of a Negative than an Affirmative Importance or the Name of a Negative rather than a Positive Idea It denotes only thus much that there was no Cause intervening which did necessarily produce a certain and determinate Effect or that made use of its Understanding to produce that particular Effect The Abbot Furetiere observes that Chance is sometimes spoken of as a Person and denotes an Imaginary Being to which we foolishly attribute those Effects of whose Causes we are ignorant I own that sometimes Chance may have those Effects attributed to it which have a determinate and necessary Cause But when Men express themselves thus it is from their Ignorance at least if they pretend to speak properly But thus much is certain however as I have shewn that it is an Imaginary Being a Creature of our own Brain and that nothing less than a Poetical License will justifie our mentioning Chance as a Person which yet is a Form of Speech so much countenanced by common use that there are very few Expressions more frequently to be met with From these Premises it evidently follows that good Luck which is a Consequence of this Chance is likewise in the common acceptation of the Word a pure Chimera People pretend that good Luck is confined and fixed to some certain Persons and at the same time that it is the Effect of Chance which is a manifest Contradiction The Nature of Chance consists in its dependence upon a free Cause determining it self by Humour and Fancy without Order or Design and yet they will needs have it that good Luck is so fixed that it shall happen to this or that particular Man Now what can be more palpably absurd than to assert that an Effect is and is not determined at the same time Thus Chance in it self is nothing and the good Luck which goes along with some certain Persons is if I may so say somewhat less than nothing The First expresses a negative Idea only the Second a contradictory Idea if it be allowable to call a Contradiction an Idea The Case is all one with the word Fortune which is sometimes represented as a Cause peremptorily resolved to oblige some and to persecute others Fortune was on Pompey's side before the Civil Wars but afterwards she forsook and fought against him Alexander had her at his beck till his last Sickness but then he is thought Unfortunate not to escape Poysoning In short Ancient and Modern Writers both abound with Expressions opposite to each other when they speak of the Constancy or Inconstancy of Fortune The only Account whereof is that This is a Phantome of their own forming and that their Imagination added to or took from it at pleasure and as they saw occasion We commonly say that Men are the Sport of Fortune that she plays with them for her Diversion but it were more proper to say that Fortune is our Play-thing since we give and take away from her just what we think fit The Gentlemen of the French Academy after having said that Fortune was a Goddess with the Heathens add that Now-a-days though we do not own Fortune to be any thing in it self yet most of the Expressions then in use are still continued but that they are to be understood in a figurative Sense If these Expressions signified nothing in the Mouths of Them who erected Altars to Fortune I vehemently suspect they do not signifie much more in the Writings of Those Authors who use them figuratively now For indeed they are only used by a Prosopopoeia Now in a Prosopopoeia we are allowed indeed to speak of what we conceive in the quality of a Person but I have never heard nor read that we might make a Person of a meer Nothing or rather of that which is less than Nothing of that which we are not able to form any no not so much as a negative Conception of I have never observed any thing of this kind done except a Poem entituled Nothing which is altogether founded upon an equivocal Construction of the Word which is not easie if possible to be rendred properly Others as the Abbot Furetiere in particular pretend that by Fortune at present we are to understand Providence These are his Words in his Dictionary This was formerly a Heathen Goddess and thought to be the Cause of all surprising and extraordinary Events whereas in truth it is the Divine Providence acting by Methods unknown and far above Humane Wisdom It is confest that the Word Fortune ought many times to be thus understood if we will allow it to signifie any thing in the Writings of many Men and even of some Authors whose Eloquence and Delicacy of Expression is admired by all the World But yet this was not the thing They meant by it as will quickly appear if we take out the Word Fortune and substitute that of Providence in its stead I will produce some Instances to save my Reader the trouble of Search and Recollection such as will shew that there is no Figure in them which admits of any rational Meaning whether they would interpret it as personating a thing that is not or whether they would put upon Providence the vile and scandalous Disguise of Fortune These shall be taken out of M. Rochefoucaut's Maxims which must be acknowledged a Master-piece in their kind Observe how he expresses himself in his 60th Reflection They that think themselves Men of Merit esteem it a Happiness to
imputes his Prosperity to his Prudence but if his Ventures be rash and unsuccessful does he lay his Losses to himself too No. This is a Misfortune for which he is not answerable because many Others have traded more boldly and by the Favour of Fortune found their Account in doing so * La Fontaine de l'injustice des hommes envers la Fortune Vn ami le voiant en mauvais equipage Lui dit d'ou vient cela De la Fortune helas Consoler vous dit l'autre s'il ne lui plait pas Que vous soiez heureux tout au moins soyez sage Jene seay si'l crût ce conseil Mais je scay que chacun impute en cas pareil Son bonheur à son industrie Et si de quel que ' Echee notre saute est suivie Nous disons injures au sort Chose n'est ici plus commune Le bien nous le saisons le mal c'est la Fortune On à toujours ruison le Destin toujours tort A Friend surpriz'd to see him meanly clad Cry'd out Alas what makes your Clothes so bad 'T is my hard Fortune Sir Take Courage Man said he If Fate deny Success yet Wise you still may be This is entirely in your own disposal What good Effect this Counsel had I know not But this I know that all Mankind agree When Prosperous to praise their Care and Industry But if some sudden Blow pursue their Follies We spare our selves and lay the blame elsewhere The Good is all our own the Ill is Fortune's We 're ever in the right Fate ever in the wrong Thus the Satisfaction Men feel in Bemoaning themselves and finding out some Excuse for their own Indiscretions did heretofore give birth to those Phantoms of Destiny and Fortune and do still cherish and keep them up in the World These Passions are so natural that it is scarce possible to extirpate them out of the Minds of Men. Besides all which there is yet One more much more blameable and equally instrumental with the former to the continuing this unintelligible Jargon in use among us I mean a Spirit of Envy against those whom we see successful which because it cannot take away from the Advantages they stand possess'd of endeavours to perswade our selves and others that these Persons do not excel Them in Merit of whom they have got the start in Riches or Advancement We say these things are the Effect more of their good Fortune than their good Conduct and magnifie their Luck with no other design so much as thereby to lower their commendable Qualities This was always a reigning Disposition and many Instances of it are to be found in the 104th Chapter of Stobaeus concerning those who have been undeservedly Fortunate Attend but diligently to the Discourse when any Man that hath risen greatly in the World is talked of and you shall daily find more of these ill-natur'd Examples than a good Man would be pleased with Reflect a little with your self upon those whom you know more than ordinarily successful and you shall find a strong Inclination even in your own Breast to impute most of these Persons Happiness more to Fortune than to their own Prudence or Desert These are the Temptations Men lay under to take the Government of Humane Affairs out of the Hands of Providence and give it to Destiny and Fortune Those Chimaera's that have been adored for two thousand Years even among the most learned and refined Nations sometimes in Temples but always in Mens Hearts and secret Thoughts These are the Idols to which Ignorance and Discontent Self-love and Envy did ever and do still too often sacrifice Piety and good Sense Patience and Charity But still I expect to be thought an unreasonable Man for attempting to banish these Words out of Conversation And the rather because the World know not how to dispense with the want of them As I my self seem in effect to confess by making so frequent use of them in this very Discourse directed against them Which certainly would not have been done could I conveniently have express'd my self without them In return to this I have two things to offer The First is that I was obliged in attacking the vulgar Signification of these Words to take them as the Vulgar do in order to make my self clearly understood The Other is that I allow these Words capable of a very good Sense provided we confine them to Events already past A Man without any Absurdity or Impropriety at all may say that such a one hath had good or ill Luck that he hath been Fortunate or Vnfortunate but if a Man will speak sensibly and intelligibly he cannot say that any Person is or will be the One or the Other This at first hearing may sound like a Paradox but it is as certain with regard to the Importance of the Words as it is in respect of the Truth of the thing Solon is said to declare Herodot l. 1. that no Man could truly be called happy before his Death because of the many Changes in Humane Affairs and the Uncertainty of what may happen hereafter which no body can foresee or answer for Thus it is with Words too When we say that such a one hath been fortunate this means no more than that some things have fallen out to his advantage and then the Importance of the Word is confined to the Event only This Idea in such a Case is very clear because it agrees exactly with that which we conceive of any sort of gainful Events But when we say a Man is or will be fortunate this undertakes to point out something belonging to that Person which causes such Advantages to happen to Him rather than to Others And in this Sense it is that I contend and I think have proved the Terms of Fortunate and Good Luck to be meerly notional and of no significance at all So that upon the whole Matter those Words are not to be used upon Some Occasions if a Man would speak rationally and intelligibly and upon Others they may be very well admitted and have a clear and distinct Sense belonging to them CHAP. VII That Mens Good and Bad Angel are not the Cause of their Good or Ill Luck in Gaming and Lotteries MAny of the ancient Heathens were of opinion that Each Person at hi◠Birth had a Good and Evil Genius assigned him and that the Good used his utmost Endeavours for his Benefit while the Other laboured as hard for his Ruine They pretended too that if a Man won at Play this was owing to the Influence and Power of his good Genius So that He whose good Genius was superiour to His with whom he engaged would infallibly come off Conquerour Now whatever Objections this Opinion may be liable to thus much at least must be granted in its favour that it is intelligible which the two former are not For we find no difficulty in conceiving it possible for an Intelligent
REFLECTIONS Upon what the WORLD Commonly call GOOD-LUCK AND ILL-LUCK With Regard to LOTTERIES And of the Good Use which may be made of them Written Originally in French By Monsieur Le Clerk Done into English London Printed for Matth. Gillyflower in Westminster-Hall Tim. Goodwin Matth. Wotton and B. Tooke in Fleetstreet 16â—9 THE PREFACE THE following Treatise falls in so exactly with the prevailing Humour of the Times that a Man need go no farther than the Title-Page to convince himself of its being seasonable And the Argument handled in it is so ingeniously managed that nothing needs be said here to prove it useful The Happiness of Mankind with regard to the Accidents and Affairs of the present Life depends in a great measure upon the Notions they entertain of the several Events which happen to them and the Disposition of those Events They who suffer themselves to be carried away with false and fantastical Opinions in this Matter slide insensibly into all the Whimsies and disquieting Terrours of Superstition A Disease exceeding common bred up and cherished by early Prejudices and though incident chiefly to weak Minds yet very rarely rooted out entirely by the strongest The Consequences of this Evil are the more to be dreaded not only upon the account of the Tyranny and Torture which it exercises upon them who live in Bondage to it but likewise with regard to the great and manifest Obstruction which it puts upon the wisest justest and most commendable Designs For how often do we see these suspended or wholly laid aside how many happy Opportunities are neglected and lost upon a childish regard to Omens and Days and Persons which are vulgarly believed inauspicious and unfortunate This is so Epidemical a Folly that never a one of my Readers I dare say hath not found it fall within the Compass of his own Observation And yet not one of them neither can account to himself for the Rise and Progress of it in the World St. Augustine De Doct. Christ and other eminent Writers in the Church have exposed these Fopperies as they deserve by representing them to be some of those Delusions into which Almighty God suffered the old Pagans to fall Thus punishing their affected with a judicial Blindness But we find plainly by Tully and Others that even among the Pagans Men of Judgment and better Sense detested and despised them though the Corruptions of their Worship gave so much Countenance to them And if even with wise Heathens they were despicable among Christians most certainly they are monstrous and abominable unworthy of and inconsistent with the Discoveries which God in Scripture hath made of himself and his Dealings with Mankind One cannot without Indignation hear Persons who profess to Believe and Understand the Gospel laying a Stress upon Fatal Numbers Climacterical Years Childermass Days Lucky Hours Successful Physicians and a Hundred other such sensless Trifles which are frequently not received only but taken in as Principles to govern their Conduct by without any respect to natural or reasonable Causes of the good or ill Success attending these Things and Persons For it is not in Matters of Diversion in Gaming only that these Fancies prevail but even in the most important Affairs of Humane Life A Man hath earnest Business and must not begin a Journey or take the first Step in it He is Sick and may by no means Bleed or take a proper Medicine because it is Childermass Day He needs Advice and declines to ask it of one whom he verily believes more skilful because another less so is more lucky His Relation or Friend dies and this must be imputed to his being in such a fatal Year or sitting Thirteen at Table as if Sixty three were more dangerous than Seventy or Seventy two and it were more probable that one in Thirteen should drop that Year than one in Thirty These silly Conceipts are guilty in their Consequences of fixing such odd Constructions upon the Divine Providence and representing it so capricious so partially fond or cruel so unaccountable in its Dispensations of very great Moment that no Man of common Sense would endure to have himself so meanly thought of as that he acts by such Measures And therefore the Fathers of the Church inveigh severely against all the Follies of this kind as being not only irrational but profane and irreligious and highly provoking to Almighty God How foreign soever these Instances mentioned here may seem to the Subject-matter of this Book yet in regard all the Sorts of superstitious Imaginations proceed from one and the same common Principle I thought it expedient to warn my Reader that the Arguments made use of by this Author against one Species will with a very easie Application be accommodated to all the rest For the Root of all this prodigious Vanity is a mistaken Apprehension of that Cause which governs Us and our Events attributing too little or too much to it and resolving Things into blind Chance fatal Necessity or such a Providence as we are pleased to form to our selves without modelling our Idea's by the Standard of Natural or Revealed Truths Our Author hath sufficiently disproved and exposed the Absurdity of such Errours and shewed how exceeding ridiculous and perfectly groundless they are But I thought it might not be amiss to add in this Preface how extreamly injurious they are to that Wise Being who disposes all our Affairs in due Order and Measure and to put the well-inclined Reader in mind that by Indulging these Follies he is not only guilty of a sensless and unwarrantable but even of a sinful and impious Superstition such as the Darkness of the Heathen Ignorance could scarce excuse but the Light of Christianity is by all means bound to avoid and abhor Were there no other Benefit to be reaped from this Tract than meerly the contributing somewhat of use to our Minds at large from this unreasonable Slavery and assisting Men in framing juster Conceptions of God and Providence that alone would be sufficient to entitle it to good Acceptance and a very careful Perusal But there is another indeed no less seasonable and necessary Advantage to be hoped for by it The exciting Men I mean to Charity and Liberality to those in Want and Distress A Virtue for which we can never want Opportunities because we always have and always shall have the Poor with us and whenever we will we may do them good But the particular Circumstances of this Time and Nation cry at present more loudly than ordinary for Relief and it will argue a very hard and unchristian Temper to be Deaf to their importunate Complaints The general Calamities introduced by a long expensive War have deprived many who are willing to get their Sustenance by hard Labour of the Means of supporting themselves and their indigent Families And the vast Increase which some have found by being fortunate in Lotteries put into their Hands the Power of doing much good at very
small Expence If the Publick Authority do not here as it does abroad enjoyn a great Rebate of their Gains to be applied to Charitable Uses yet the Gospel is a standing Law and directs us all to make the Freedom of our Distributions bear some decent Proportion to the Freedom of our Receipts And every Man in this Point may and ought to be a Law to himself the more he is left at liberty by the Civil Constitution the more generous and commendable is the good Man's choice and what is done of his own accord will be the more pleasing Sacrifice This Argument is handled in some of the latter Chapters of this Book with great Address and however selfish and worldly Men may be prejudiced against those Reasons which differ so much from common Practice yet I conceive upon serious consideration it will not be easie for a good Christian to evade the force of them I might add somewhat concerning that last Chapter drawn from the ingenious Mr. Pascall which did Men rightly attend to they could not suffer themselves to be so negligent and thoughtless in their greatest Concern But I will detain my Reader no longer than while I beg of him to manage himself with the same Prudence in the Affairs of another and better World which he would esteem scandalous not to use in those of the present and less valuable one and that as he goes along he would not confine his Thoughts to the single Matter before him but apply what he finds here to all those Cases which have an affinity to it and to the curing or correcting such Errors which by Parity of Reason those Arguments are capable of doing him Service in A TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS CHAP. I. The Occasion and Design of this little Tract The Original of the Word Lot Page I. CHAP. II. The different Significations of which the Words Good Luck and Ill Luck are capable Page 8 CHAP. III. That Destiny is not the Cause of Good Luck or Ill Luck Page 22 CHAP. IV. That the Terms Good or Ill Fortune frequently mean nothing no more than Chance What Sense this last Word is capable of Page 35 CHAP. V. The Objections drawn from Lotteries and all Games that depend upon Chance answered and shewed insufficient to denominate Men Fortunate or to prove that any Persons have Good Luck constantly going along with them Page 55 CHAP. VI. Why Good and Ill Destiny and Fortune and some other such Terms though they signifie nothing real and positive should yet continue so long in common use In what Sense the Words Good and Ill Luck may be lawfully admitted Page 63 CHAP. VII That Mens Good or Bad Genius or Angels is not the Cause of their Good or Ill Luck in Gaming and Lotteries Page 76 CHAP. VIII That God does not by any particular and extraordinary Determination of his Divine Will ordain Good Luck to some and Ill Luck to Others in Cases of Play and Lotteries Page 81 CHAP. IX That Those who believe God presides over Casual Events in so particular and extraordinary a manner run into an old Errour and Superstition and think of Providence as the Heathens did Page 95 CHAP. X. That those Magistrates are not to blame who have set up Lotteries for the Benefit of the Poor A Commendation of the States of Holland in general and particularly with regard to the Lotteries opened there by Publick Order Page 109 CHAP. XI The Lawfulness of putting into Lotteries provided it be not done upon a Principle of Covetousness Some Directions how to judge whether a Man proceed upon this Principle or not Page 123 CHAP. XII A Digression concerning Liberality in general wherein the Nature of this Virtue is described and the Practice of it earnestly recommended with several Rules how to exercise it regularly Page 147 CHAP. XIII The Conclusion of this Discourse Mens Management of themselves in the Business of Religion compared with the Conduct of Those who put into Lotteries From the ingenious Mr. Pascall Page 194 ERRATA Pag. 65. in Marg. for Iliad 2. r. 16. REFLECTIONS UPON What the World Commonly call Good Luck and Ill Luck CHAP. I. The Occasion and Design of this little Tract The Original of the Word Lot LOtteries were never so general a Subject of Discourse as they have been of late since that eminent one in England in the Year 1694. Their Neighbours observing a Million Sterling speedily raised in hopes of gaining some of the Great Benefits there proposed have betaken themselves to the same Methods of perswading People to part with ready Mony which no Consideration of any good Use to be made of it would otherwise have been able to draw from them Several Cities in Holland and the Provinces adjacent and even some little Towns have even rivalled one another in this Project and many others it is said are like to be set on Foot in places at a greater distance The Few Persons who have been Fortunate in the Lotteries already drawn are so eager and full of Hope to grow Rich at a small Expence in the many more proposed afresh that every one hastens to bring in his Mony to those next to be drawn with an Intention to venture all or a considerable part of his Gains in others to be drawn afterwards This is observable to be constantly the Case where Men are perswaded of the Integrity of the Directors as in Holland particularly where great Care and Exactness is used in matters of this kind People are there as greedy of advancing Mony as if they lent it at a large Interest or put it out at the Two-hundredth Penny All Holland being now warm in these Projections a Man comes into no Company where these do not make a part of the Conversation every one is expressing his Concern for his Loss or his Joy for his Gain in Lotteries or at least his Hopes of obtaining some Benefit in those at present on Foot The Lists that come out daily are greedily bought up to see whether Mens Numbers are come up A huge Roll of Cyphers are carefully perused to observe whether there be any hopes yet left or whether they must think of making themselves Amends in some future Lottery If the Numbers lookt for are not yet past they cherish Hopes of a good Benefit yet to come And though the Odds give more ground for Fear than Hope yet every Man's Hopes are infinitely above his Fears The first Question upon every Meeting is How Tickets go and every Moment we hear of the Good Luck of those who have Benefits and the Ill Luck of those that have only Blanks Some there are that have succeeded in every Adventure and these are called the Fortunate they have the Opinion of great Good Luck attending them and are often envied upon this Account Others again who have got nothing lament their own Ill Luck and declare that now finding themselves to be Vnfortunate they resolve never to venture in Lotteries any more I happened in
happen so that all the World declare them to be the Effect of Fortune we may plainly see that there are such things as Fortune and Chance For we know very well both that the things of this Nature are the Work of Fortune and that what Fortune does is always of this Nature This manner of Argument supposes the common Forms of Speaking to be the Rule of True and False and that a Man may conclude from Words to Things which in a Philosopher is a most ridiculous Imagination For what is more common than for the People to entertain false Notions of Things and for the ways of expressing themselves suited to their Notions to be very improper and distant from the Truth Afterwards he says that when any thing of Advantage happens to a Man by Accident This is such a thing as we call the Effect of Fortune or Chance For Example A Man goes to a Place whither he does not use to go and where he should receive Money though at that time he went not thither with any such design if he receive Money there we say that he went thither and received it by Chance He pretends again that Herein Fortune and Chance differ Fortune is not properly concerned except in the Actions of such Beings as act upon a Principle of Choice whereas Chance takes place in the Effects of Causes which do not act by Choice I know not whether this Difference were constantly observed in common Speech but it is certain that those Bodies were called Automata which were thought to move of themselves Thus this Philosopher imagined he had defined the Nature of a Cause in Physicks while he only defined the Words by which People used to express themselves for he pretends that Chance had a great hand in Forming the Universe which is a most absurd Fancy and more becoming a Clown or an Ideot than a Philosopher as we shall see by and by The Latins who put no such distinction between Fortuna and Casus define them thus Lot Chance Fortune Event what else is all this but a thing 's falling out after one particular manner when it might either not have happened at all or have happened after quite another manner than it hath done Quid est aliud Sors quid Fortuna quid Casus quid Eventus nisi cum sic aliquid accidit sic evênit De Div. Nat. L. 2. c. 6. ut vel non cadere atque evenire vel aliter cadere atque evenire potuerit A Man that reads these Definitions of Fortune would be apt to think by some part of them that the Ancients did mean something by it and yet on the other hand to suspect that they had no Notion at all of the matter Aristotle is express that the common Way of Speaking proves Fortune and Chance to be something 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But if they be something what sort of Things are they Are they Spirits Are they Bodies Are they of some different Nature Aristotle in his Sixth Chapter of the Second Book of Physicks distinguishes them plainly from Spirit and * i. e. Body Nature for these he says are the Causes of all things Essentially and per se These two last Causes he owns did at first produce the Heaven and all the material World but yet he says that when all this was done a thousand Things were effected by Chance afterwards But still he does not inform us what this pretended Cause is considered in it self For in truth he knew not what he meant by it himself And one may see he did not by his quoting the common Form of Speech explaining the Word by the Use of it but never giving any Definition of Fortune He does indeed disallow that Notion of some who made Fortune a real Cause but such as the Mind of Man knew nothing of because too divine a thing for Man to comprehend it But all that he does is only telling us the Occasion how this Word grew so generally into Use In the mean while not to mention the Poets and their Modes of Speech which might be accused of too great liberty in Fiction the Temples which in several places were dedicated to Good or Ill Fortune seem to say that This was generally reputed a Deity For certainly Men must be mad to the last Degree who shall go about to build Temples address their Prayers and Praises and offer Sacrifices to any but Gods that is such as they believe to have a divine and much more an actual Existence Now This Reasoning were certainly conclusive did Men always speak and act consistently but as it is they often speak Words which they do not understand and do many Things when they know not what they do Tullus Hostilius built a Temple to Fear and Paleness Others erected Temples to the Mind to Vertue Pallori Pavori Liv. l. 1. c. 27. Cic. de Nat. Deor. l. 2. Lactan. l. 1. to Honour to Piety to Fidelity to Hope to Chastity to Concord to Peace to Rest to Safety to Fortune to Liberty c. Others again were consecrated to to the Feaver to the Year the Month to Art to Poverty to Old Age to Death Now I can by no means perswade my self that the Ancients believed all these things to be things actually Existing but they knew not what they did when they built such Temples and therefore the Actions of Men will give us no surer ground of arguing from them than their Words and common Talk will Nay Some among them were well aware that when Men talked of Fortune they talked of a thing they did not understand Democritus says Men formed to themselves a Phantome of Fortune Euseb Praep. Ev. l. xiv 27. only for a Cover to their Ignorance This Passage is likewise quoted from a Comedy of Philemon There is no such Deity as Men call Fortune no no such matter all things happen by Chance and that which the World calls Fortune is any thing that happens to Men without being able to give a Reason why it should do so So again Tully The Causes under the Governance of Fortune are secret for every thing must have its Cause Cic. Top. c. 17. but whatever is effected by a hidden Cause and by a Method which we cannot account for this is properly an Effect of Fortune And Juvenal tells us Sat. x. that Fortune is only a Goddess in Fiction and of Mens making Nullum Numen abest si sit Prudentia sed Te Nos facimus Fortuna Deam caeloque locamus Fortune was never Worshipp'd by the Wise But set aloft by Fools usurps the Skies Thus you see by the Testimony of these Heathen Writers that the Word Fortune signifies nothing at all though some pretended that it imports a real Existence I shall clear this Point by enquiring into the thing it self when I have first produced two Passages of Christian Authors who expose and confute the Worshippers of Fortune and were of my Opinion that this
Word signifies Nothing The former of these is Lactantius who argues thus Fortune in it self is nothing we are not to suppose that the Word denotes any thing of real existence Inst Divin l. 3. c. 29. take it in what sense you please Fortune is no more than an Event which is sudden and unexpected But the Philosophers that they might not fail to mistake in every thing pretended to be very Wise in a trifling Matter Those I mean who change the Sex of Fortune and will needs have it a God and not a Goddess The same Deity they call sometimes Nature and sometimes Fortune because as Cicero observes it effects many things which we do not expect by reason of our Ignorance in the Causes that produce them And not knowing the Reasons why a thing happens Men must needs be ignorant what it is that brings it about The same Author in a very serious Tract where he gives his Son Rules drawn from Philosophy to govern him in his Behaviour Who says he does not know that the Power of Fortune is great which side soever she takes For when she opposes us we are certainly worsted Lactantius after some Reflections upon Cicero which are not much to the Matter now in hand proceeds in this manner Who does not know says he For my part I know no such thing Let him shew me if he can what that Power is what is the Favour of Fortune and what her Opposition to us It is by no means for the Reputation of a Man of Wit and Parts to lay down a thing for granted which if one deny he is not able to make out The other Author which I shall produce upon this Occasion is * De Cons Phil. L. 1. Pros i. Boethius whose Style in Beauty is equal to that of Lactantius and his Reasoning is much before His. If any one says Philosophy with whom Boethius is holding a Dialogue defines an accidental Event Casum and such as is not produced by any Connexion of Causes I assert that Chance is nothing in the World that it is an empty Word without any Sense or Signification at all For where can Chance find a place in things which God keeps in a regular Method There is no greater Truth than that nothing can come out of nothing Not one of the Ancients ever contradicted this Maxime tho' they understood it not of the Efficient but the Material Cause Now if a thing were produced without a Cause that thing would come out of nothing But if this cannot be then neither can there be such a thing as Chance according to our Definition of it Well but replies Boethius is there then nothing which we can properly call fortuitous or casual Or is there somewhat to which these Names belong tho' the Vulgar know it not Aristotle says Philosophy hath cleared this Difficulty in few words in his Book of Physicks and comes very near to the truth of the matter What I pray is his Resolution of the Case Says Boethius When any thing is done with a certain design replies Philosophy and some other thing different from that which was intended does for other causes happen this thing so besides the Intention of the Agent is what we call a fortuitous or casual Event As if a Man for instance in digging his Ground with a design to cultivate it should find a Pot of Gold hidden there We say this is casual but yet it had a real and proper Cause and the unforeseen and unexpected Concurrence of such Causes forms that which is termed a casual Event If He who cultivated his Ground had not digged it or if he who buried this Treasure had not laid it in that place the Gold had not been found as it was These then are the Causes of that accidental Gain which happened to the Man by this Concurrence of theirs altogether foreign from the Design which he proposed to himself in digging his Ground The Remainder of this Argument may be seen in the Original for I cannot agree with Boethius in every Branch of it But this proves that if the Ancients used the words of Fortune or Chance to denote any unknown Being which acts without any Rule and which is neither a Spiritual nor a Bodily Substance they knew not their own meaning And yet thus I have shewed that Aristotle used them whatever Boethius says here to bring him off Let us now consider the Thing in it self And in order to discern what Sense these words Fortune and Chance are capable of we must remember that there are only Two sorts of Beings which we know of that can contribute to any thing that befals us The First sort consists of Bodies which acting alone and without the interposition of any other Cause leave no room for Fortune or Chance Because they act by fix'd unalterable Rules of Mechanism as all who have the least knowledge of Mechanicks and Natural Philosophy are abundantly satisfied The Common People indeed say a Body falls of it self when no Man nor any sensible Cause that comes under our Observation threw it down As when Fruit falls from a Tree or a Tile from the Roof of a House without any pulling or blast of Wind to blow it down And it is a very usual thing to say such things fell of themselves or by Chance But it is by no means true that nothing interposed and that no external Cause contributed to that Fall The Air and the Weight of the Bodies not to mention several other Causes that might concur occasioned their Fall A Body would continue for ever in the same State did not some Cause from without make an Alteration This is an Axiom in Natural Philosophy which I need not here go about to prove The second sort of Beings are what we call Spirits who among several other Faculties belonging to them are endued with Liberty which they exercise upon infinite Occasions They can at any time do or not do what they do they can do it after this or that manner they determine themselves in doubtful or indifferent Cases or what they look upon to be such by Humour and Fancy Without any Other Reason but that they have a mind to act so or so and without the interposition of any thing that should necessarily engage their Judgment or their Will Without troubling my Readers with a long Lecture of Metaphysicks I appeal to every Man 's own Sense and Experience and am entirely perswaded that all who will speak truly what they feel within themselves in innumerable Instances of Humane Life will agree that what I have said is the very Truth of the Case In this respect it may be said that the free determination of a Spiritual Substance is an Effect of Chance because it does not proceed from any necessary Cause And in regard Spirits act much upon Bodies the intervening of these Operations produce somewhat casual in those Motions which otherwise would not be at all We will put the
be Vnfortunate that so They and Others may look upon them as Persons considerable enough to be set as a Mark for Fortune I can hardly think M. Furetiere would have ventur'd to say a Mark for Providence in the same sense or that the Author of the Maxims entertained any thing like so impious a Thought when he wrote thus The 64th begins thus The Contempt of Riches was in some ancient Philosophers a secret Desire of doing Right to their Merit and revenging themselves upon the Injustice of Fortune by despising the same Advantages which she would not suffer them to enjoy Certainly no Man would talk of the Injustice of Providence or of taking a Revenge upon That The 458th observes that Fortune never appears so blind as to Those whom she does no good to Now this is not only downright Paganism in the Expression but even in the Idea or that which is pretended to answer to those Expressions And yet thus much Right ought to be done M. Furetiere to acknowledge that in many Passages where the Word Fortune is to be met with that of Providence may very properly be exchanged for it An Instance whereof the 70th Reflection gives us Fortune turns every thing to the advantage of those she loves Providence will stand very well there and so make this Maxim in sense almost the same with that of St. Paul Rom. 8.20 That all things work together for Good to them that love God Though 't is probable M. Rochefoucaut might not have this in his thoughts neither But notwithstanding this Agreement of Sense upon some Occasions we cannot reasonably allow that one and the same Word should be used for so many different Purposes as sometimes to signifie a Pagan Goddess sometimes a meer Notion and Chimera of Mens own Brain and at others the Wife and Good Providence of God and that those should consequently be brought in at all turns to share the Government of the Universe with that Providence I meddle not at present with the Absurdity of This upon a Religious Account but am content to observe that that Spirit of Exactness and Justness of Expression which ought to govern all our Discourse should by all means keep us from such dark such ambiguous such insignificant Forms of Speech Some indeed have perceived the Necessity of Reforming our Modern Idioms in this respect The Author of the Penseés diverses Pens 48. which are sometimes annexed to M. Rochesfoucaut's Maxims is one of These One Instance we have in these words Fortune gives out the Parts which each Person plays upon this Theatre of the World blindly and humoursomely And hence there are so many ill Actors because so few People and fitted for their Characters After which he adds by way of Correction Now to speak in Terms more becoming Christians Fortune here is nothing else but the Providence of God which for Reasons unknown to Vs permits this Disorder and Irregular Proceeding Now in this case the Emendation ought to have gone rather upon this foot that instead of Fortune does such things blindly he should have said Providence permits such things to be done For it is plain as the words lye we can by no means understand Providence by Fortune in that Passage What hath been said of Chance and Fortune may be as well applied to Lot Sors which signifies the same thing only Sors is a word more familiar in Poetry than Prose All These amount to no more than Negative Terms as I observed before and all they do is to make us comprehend that the Effect then spoken of is not the Result of a Cause which acts necessarily and is expresly determined to produce it CHAP. V. The Objections drawn from Lotteries and all Games that depend upon Chance answered and shewed insufficient to denominate Men Fortunate or that any Persons have Good Luck constantly going along with them I Am perfectly satisfied that what hath been said of that Luck which is pretended to be the Effect of Destiny or Chance will not admit of any substantial Reply And am apt to promise my self that all who read the two last Chapters heedfully will be of my mind But yet I am as verily perswaded that great Numbers of People who are not able either to disprove me or to establish any Notions of their own upon clear and rational Grounds will not be one whit moved but stiffly maintain it still that let all the World say what they please there is such a thing as good and ill Luck in Matters depending upon Chance They will think as long as they have a Day to live that some certain Persons are fortunate and unfortunate at Games where Chance is thought to govern They will perhaps confess that they do not know indeed how to give any distinct Account of this good or ill Luck what it is or whence it proceeds But long Experience hath taught them that such things are but too real and certain They will agree that they have not Skill enough to overthrow my Reasons sons to the contrary but nothing shall perswade them out of their own Senses and the Prejudices they have entertained have to Them all the force of a Demonstration These are a sort of Men who never troubling themselves to argue upon any Matter go through stitch in all their Opinions and never take them up but with a secret Resolution never to quit them more though for others infinitely better There is no informing or enlightning of them and when you have reasoned with them never so justly all the answer you are to expect is that of the Country-Fellow to his Priest You may Silence me but you shall never Convert me I would not be thought to do so weak a thing as to write this Tract in hopes of gaining these Men over But there are Others content to hear Reason and such as will be satisfied why they think thus rather than otherwise and yet even They find it hard to deliver themselves from the Difficulties objected to them from Instances of Persons who almost always win at Play where all the Skill in the World is not able to make its Party good against their Luck And Others again have so ill a Run that they eternally lose whatever they play for Almost every Body fancies he knows Instances of these lucky or unlucky Hands and yet I am now taking upon me to prove that this Objection hath nothing of true weight in it when rightly considered I do not deny but a Gamester may win at Dice Cards or other Games which either turn all upon Chance or have a mixture of Skill required for an Hour or two nay a whole Afternoon or Night together I agree in like manner that there are Some who with a very few Tickets have got more Prizes in our late Lotteries than Others who have put in ten times as much And lastly I am perfectly satisfied that a great many on the other sido are as unaccountable Losers in the
Instances already mentioned But now because they are of different kinds we must first distinguish rightly between them before we can make a right Judgment in the Case In Cases where Chance does all as in Dice and Lotteries supposing Men to have observed carefully and that there be no Cheating I dare averr that no Man was ever known to be constantly or even a great while together a Winner There is no Man that hath drawn the Great Lots or such as are of any considerable Value in several Lotteries successively And several after some Benefits depending upon the Continuance of their Good Luck have been so far from improving their Capital that they have paid dearly for their fond Imagination when venturing afresh in other Lotteries In this I appeal to what my Readers have known or heard Now the Great Lots must needs be Somebody's but this Somebody would be very much in the wrong to think that he is therefore a Fortunate Person that some Quality belongs to him which shall secure him the like Advantages at other times There must of necessity be more Losers than Gainers and therefore it is very foolish to conclude a Man's self Vnfortunate because he is of the more numerous and probable side And yet the Winners are so exalted and the Losers so enraged that they are eternally talking of their Good or Ill Luck without at all considering what they say But now the Matter is otherwise in Games that require any thing of Skill For here supposing the Persons to understand the Game and to mind their Play alike and to Play fair I dare undertake that though sometimes One of these may Win and the Other Lose yet if they Play frequently together they will give out pretty near equal at last Now you cannot call One of these Fortunate and the Other Vnfortunate because in the infinite Turns of Chance each hath his Run of a good Hand provided they Play often and long The Cards may lye so that one of them may Win an Hour an Evening a Week together but then the Other will infallibly have his Turn too though there be no Rule or certain Order observable in the Cards or Dice which thus wheel about to different sides One sensible Evidence of this we have in the many Gamesters who have been reputed wonderfully lucky Players because used to Win for a great while together and yet Lose vast Summs all at a clap and dye at last miserably Poor Now What should be the Cause of so sudden and mighty a Change that the Good Luck which kept them company so long should at last forsake them and the Ill Luck which had no Power at all over them before should persecute and undo them at the end of their Days The only Account for this seems to be that Chance may possibly be of Their side who frequently expose themselves to it in the whole Course of their Lives and this may happen from the infinite variety of Contingencies and the prodigious Number of Men who cast themselves continually upon them but though this be possible 't is but barely so and scarce ever found in Fact that the same Strain of Fortune sticks by a Man any very long time It is possible strictly and absolutely speaking that a Man in Raffling may throw three Sixes twelve times together Perhaps this may have been done some Once or Twice since that Game was invented and hath made the Fortune of a very few Gamesters but we must own this to have been exceeding rare and what no Man can reasonably promise himself So that to talk of Good or Ill Luck going along with this or that Person when among the infinite Hits that depend upon Chance at Dice or Cards particularly he happens for some time to come off a Winner is most ridiculous and absurd But still we are urged with Instances of Men that usually Win at Cards and have never Lost considerably for many Years so that these are concluded to be such as Good Luck is partial to and fond of as others again are Vnfortunate at Play without any mixture of such Luck or any turn of the Cards in their favour I pretend not to contest Matter of Fact but only desire my Reader to be just in this Reflection I observe then that we are now speaking of Games where though Chance does a great deal yet Skill too does as much for I am not mentioning those Games at present which are purely casual If a Man for the purpose Play ill at Ombre he will lose if he play with those that understand the Game better provided he continue Playing any time though he may now and then happen to Win notwithstanding all his Blunders and ill Management And I affirm that in this Case the being Master of the Game is necessary to make a Man Fortunate for without that he will never have Good Luck of any long continuance A Lucky Player in the vulgar Acceptation of the Word ought to be One who Plays ill and yet wins constantly For where Men Play with Skill it is nonsense to talk of Good Luck So that we should distinguish between a Good Gamester and a Lucky one The Former is so by Art the Second only by Chance And yet it is certain that generally speaking the Best Players are the most Fortunate But little Notice is taken of their Skills and a great Noise made of their Fortune and these two are often confounded with one another of which there may be these among other Reasons First Because a Good Player never loses by his own Fault whereas an Ill Player is guilty of many Slips and these make him appear more Vnlucky because they frequently expose him to lose Secondly A Good Player runs as little Risque as possibly he can When he hath an ill Hand and sees no likelihood of Winning he passes But he acts quite otherwise when he hath a sure Hand or a probable Prospect of Advantage They that are Masters of such Games as this know that there is abundance of Good Management requisite to make the best of them and such as are not expert at them are often at a loss to find the meaning of Good Players and why they proceed so unaccountably as many times they seem to do This Contrivance makes them reputed Fortunate though in reality their Success is owing not so much to their Luck as to their Conduct and Skill The Advantage is evident especially when they Win often but their Good Play is not so Notorious nor are any but Men of Judgment qualified easily to discern it Now their Luck is the thing talk'd of because Men discourse more of what they know than of what they know nothing of And so the masterly and prudent Gamesters who owe their Gain chiefly to themselves are termed Lucky and thought deeply indebted to Fortune Just the Reverse of this is the Case of them who Play ill Their Mistakes are not always so gross that every Stander-by should be sensible
so long too They that take up with what Men call Fatality will lay every good and evil Event which happens and as they imagine cannot but happen at this Door They will consider these as the Productions of an unknown Power which nothing can withstand Others who cannot bear that all Mankind should be so fast bound up in the Chains of Destiny and observe a thousand fortuitous Events every Day will be as positive though as unintelligible too as the former and tell you that all this is the Work of Fortune These are Terms now grown so very familiar that should they be exploded Men would think themselves straitned for necessary Expressions They are of so great Service both in Poetry and Prose that Rhetorick would lose one of its fairest Flowers if Destiny and Fortune were no more These and other Words of like Importance carry Musick in the Sound they strike the Ear and help Rhyme at a dead lift so seasonably so agreeably that though never so offensive to Reason parted with they must not be upon any Terms And all this is owing to Custom which when it hath long obtained it is to no purpose to strive against This then might alone suffice to keep up sentless Words in Vogue in despight of all Argument and Opposition to the contrary But there is yet a Third Reason for it no less powerful than the former Which is that some certain Passions which Men will never divest themselves of do naturally dispose them to these kinds of Expressions except they very strictly guard themselves in this Point One of these Passions is the Pleasure Men take in complaining and bewailing their Case when unhappy and in having somewhat to lay their Misfortunes upon Were all Disasters and Crosses lookt upon as the Ordinances of a Wise Providence or as the Consequence of some Fault or Indiscretion of our own Mens Mouths would immediately be stopped in all their Sufferings and that delight of bemoaning our hard Circumstances so commonly taken and so freely indulged would be utterly supprest and lost Some Heathens indeed gave the Gods hard Words but Others scrupled the doing so and Now to be sure the Impiety of Complaining against Providence directly would never be endured So that the Accusations to evade this offensive Impiety are levelled at Destiny and Fortune These are arraigned of all the Hardships which good and worthy Men lye under and esteemed the Actors of all those things which we think it does not become God to do As may be seen at large in Stobaeus Ch. cv Concerning Those who are undeservedly miserable Thus when any cross Accident befals us we say How hard it is to be persecuted so by ill Fortune and were there not a Fate in it which we cannot resist it would never vex us Upon every Compliment of Condoleance these Complaints are repeated afresh and always with the same satisfaction Should the Persons under unhappy Circumstances be debarred solacing themselves with such Expressions they would think one of their greatest Comforts taken away from them So usual is it for the Mind of Man to feed upon Air and Emptiness For after all we may as well rail at the Emperour of China or Japan when under any Trouble as at Destiny and Fortune and the farthest King in the Indies hath as great a hand in our Afflictions as either of Those according to the vulgar Acceptation of the Words There is likewise another Passion which inclines us to express our Resentments after this manner That of Self-love I mean which so hardly suffers us to take the Shame of our Misfortunes or lay them upon any Fault of our own We please our selves in seeking for Causes without us and when we dare not vent our Spleen upon Providence or Men we fall foul upon Destiny or Fortune and think we may say what we will against These without any danger of being called to an account for it Our good Success if we may be believed is entirely the Effect of our own Prudence and Conduct But all our Losses and Disappointments come from the over-ruling Power of Fate or the unaccountable Capriciousness of Fortune Nay our very Vices are charged upon these Phantoms instead of ascribing them to the Irregularities of our own Mind or Temper Thus * Apol. c. 1. Tertullian observes that wicked Men attribute the disorderly Motions of their own Souls to Destiny or the Stars And a †Herald in Tert. Apol learned Commentator shews that this was the usual Method by which the Heathens excused themselves Hence Lucian in a Dialogue between Aeacus Protesilaus Menelaus and Paris brings in Protesilaus laying his Death to Destiny rather than his own Rashness and pretending that Fate ordained him to be the first Man that landed before Troy The same Lucian in his Apology for Learned Men who put themselves into the Service of Great Men tells us that though he would not take Sanctuary in that Excuse himself yet it was the common Apology of People who were at a loss for something to alledge in their own Defence Should says he fare ever the better if I should own my self in the wrong and have recourse to Fortune or the inevitable Necessity of Destiny if I should desire those tha◠censure me to be favourable upon a Pretence that we are not Masters of our own Actions but carried away by the Force of a higher Power which makes us do things whether we will or no Upon which Occasion he quotes Homer who in many Passages expresses himself to this purpose Now a great part of our Studies consisting in the reading old Heathen Authors the Beauty of whose Style and Fancy we justly admire we are insensibly led to speak as they did and to imitate the Bad as well as the Good especially when inspired by the same Passions with them Thus full of Resentment at our Misfortunes and full of Self-conceit instead of acknowledging our Faults we cast all the Blame upon Fate or Fortune the disorderly Proceedings whereof we give lively and very moving Descriptions of Fortune Rochf Max. 458. Max. 502. says an ingenious Person never appears so blind as in the Esteem of those to whom she is not kind And again Fortune governs the Vniverse * La Fontaine dans en Fab. de la Fortune dus jeun Enfant Whatever happens in the World She answers for it all And all our Scores are placed to her Account If Men be Fools Imprudent or Perverse They think themselves absolv'd by blaming Her Fortune in short bears all the Guilt and Scandal I l n'arrive rien dans le Monde Qu'il ne faille qu'elle en reponde Nous la faisons de tous écots Elle est prise à garand de toutes avantures Est on sot étourdi prendon mal ses mesures On pense en étre quitte en accusant son sort Bref La Fortune à toujours tort A Merchant who manages his Affairs dexterously and gets a large Estate
Being of greater Power than Man and whose Operations are invisible to make what Changes it shall please in the Motion of certain Bodily Substances as Cards or Dice or Tickets or any thing of that kind and all this to be done in such a manner as we can neither perceive nor obstruct And yet it must be confess'd that this Opinion hath no Foundation but what They who advanced it at pleasure were pleased to give it It is worth our Observation how Plutarch mentions it in his Book concerning the Fortune of the Romans Anthony and Augustus visiting often and being very familiar used to divert themselves at Ball or Dice or with fighting of Quails and Cocks but Anthony was always worsted One of his Family who pretended to Divination is said hereupon to give him this Advice Why Sir will you have any thing to do with this young Man pray avoid him You have gained more Reputation are Superiour to him in Years have more Forces under your Command are more experienced in the Art of War But your Genius is afraid of his your Fortune though in it self great flatters and truckles to his and if you do not decline him will in time forsake you and desert to him The same Relation is repeated in Anthony's Life and the Person who gave this Counsel said to be an Aegyptian The same Author in his Brutus tells us that a little before he brought his Army over into Europe as he was sitting one Night pensive somewhat seemed to come to his Tent and turning about he saw an Apparition of a horrible Form which stood by him without speaking a word Brutus had the Courage to accost it in these words What Man or what God art Thou To which the Apparition replied I am thy evil Genius Brutus and will meet thee at Philippi He says too that the same Form appeared to him again the Day before the Battel fought near that City which presaged his Defeat and Death I make no Reflections upon this Passage What I have quoted being sufficient to shew the Opinion of the Heathens in this Matter and several * See Casp Barth Collections upon the Itinerary of Rutilius Furmatianus V. 328. learned Persons having treated of the thing at large I do not find that any of the Moderns think each Man hath not only a good but an evil Genius and much less any such Genius as concerns it self in their winning or losing in Play or Lotteries In truth all that the Pagans advanced in this Matter was wholly fanciful and groundless and what Plutarch relates of Anthony's Aegyptian seems to be no more than a Cheat of that Aegyptian Who had a mind to give his Master some Account how it came to pass that he always came off with loss when engaging in Play with Augustus As for Brutus his Apparition if I should say it was a meer Fable I do not see how any body can disprove me If any one should think fit to maintain that the good Angel to whom God hath given the Charge of his Person according to the Opinion of some ancient Writers and of some Christians in our time is Sollicitous for his Winning in such Cases where Chance is supposed to have place A thousand Questions might be put to such a Man which he would find himself greatly at a loss to answer For instance Admitting that God hath entrusted each Person to the Care of a Guardian Angel it may be demanded how he knows that when he wins this Angel is the Cause of it Who ever told him so or How did he come by this Knowledge For certainly a Man may win by the accidental concurrence of some things which must of necessity favour some of those that are engaged in Play or that have put Tickets into Lotteries But that These should favour this or that Man in particular we have no more pretence to call the Doing of an Angel than the Effect of Chance It may be again questioned wherefore a Man 's good Angel should procure him Money and not rather a good Understanding or Piety or Virtue of which many great Winners stand at least as much in need as many great Losers One would be glad to know too of what Order this Angel is that can help his Charge to Money but not to the better Endowments of the Mind and why he should rather chuse to furnish him with the One than with the Other These and many other such Enquiries can never receive a satisfactory Answer And therefore Men had better say nothing than run into a Heathen Notion which pretended that Mens good Genius was the Cause 〈◊〉 all their good Fortune Because this is a 〈…〉 altogether fantastical and clogged 〈…〉 Difficulties So that withâ—â—◠〈…〉 farther upon this Head I 〈…〉 to examine the Fourth pretendâ—â—â—â—â—â—se of Mens good or ill Luck CHAP. VIII That God does not by any particular Determinations of his Divine Will ordain Good Luck to Some and Ill Luck to Others in cases of Play and Lotteries THey who do not think fit to ascribe their Good or Ill Luck in matters depending upon Chance to Destiny or Fortune or to the overruling Power of their Good or Evil Genius generally take shelter in the Providence of Almighty God Who as they imagine does in a very particular Manner preside over and dispose all things where Hazard and Lots are concerned This Opinion too is what we may conceive and understand the meaning of and at first blush carries a Face of Piety Whereas the first and second are altogether unintelligible and the third is in no degree probable And yet I am bold to say that This hath not a much firmer Foundation than the rest and that it does not make for the Honour of Providence as People fondly imagine But in this Argument it is fit I allow my self a larger Scope than I have hitherto done both in respect to that vast Number of Persons who have entertained it and in due reverence to the Holy Scripture upon which it is thought to be grounded Now first of all it is absolutely necessary to know exactly what this Proposition imports God is the Author of Good and Ill Luck in matters depending upon Chance For it is capable of Three very different Interpretations and therefore we must carefully distinguish between these in order to be rightly understood First It may mean not that God interposes after any particular manner in Favour of this or that Person so as positively to determine the Event to his Advantage by a peremptory Decree but only that God having made all things and preserving them in that Order they are in and managing them as his Wisdom sees sit these Casual Events like all others are to be looked upon as an Effect of his General Providence Thus we say commonly that God gives us and takes away from us our Children our Friends our Estates intending hereby not any miraculous or supernatural Operation by which his Providence gives or takes away