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
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
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
as no Tree actually existing ever resembled Now when these two sorts of Ideas are to be defined we must proceed very differently with respect to each of them When an imaginary Idea is to be defined you are at your own liberty Say but what you will have it and the Definition is just and good But when a thing which actually exists is to be defined by the Idea we conceive of it we are not then at liberty to make this Definition what we please because the existence of the thing is independent upon us and to make this a good Definition it must shew what the thing defined hath in common with the rest of the same Species and what it hath peculiar to it self whereby it is distinguished from them So that after having heard and understood this we can conceive the thing before us clearly without confounding it with any other thing whatsoever Great care must be taken not to confound the Definition of an abstracted Idea with that which describes an Idea of a thing which really exists For else it is evident we shall not only attribute to things existing somewhat which in truth they have not but we shall also mistake abstracted and arbitrary Ideas for the Images of things which have an actual existence And this is directly the Errour of the Stoicks in the Matter now under consideration They saw not any thing in Nature which could oblige them to think that there is an unavoidable Destiny in all Events The Idea they have been pleased to form to themselves of this Matter cannot be said to be copied after Nature as that of a Tree is from something seen by us It is an Idea purely notional and abstracted such as they have tryed to frame as they could and in which these two things are observable First They take it for granted without any Proof that there is in reality such a Destiny as they had formed in their own imagination They confound an Idea framed at pleasure with an Idea of somewhat actually existing and this shews that they did not rightly understand themselves Secondly Setting aside the thing it self considered as somewhat existing otherwise than in our own imagination yet if we examine the Idea which answers to the Words I have now quoted even thus we shall find it loose and altogether indistinct Those Words A Connexion of all things in the Vniverse with each other signifie nothing particular and express upon this occasion and the rest of the Definition which follow one another from all Eternity are every whit as dark and confused as the former This is a blind Description of a chimerical Je ne scay quoy which hath some affinity and relation to the loose Ideas of Disposition Connexion and Consequence It is a Picture of an unknown Entity of which no Man hath a particular Conception and by vertue whereof according to the Principles of the Stoick Philosophy every thing is necessarily brought to pass Plutarch who frequently falls foul upon these Philosophers though he seem in part to concur with their Opinion of Destiny will furnish us with sundry and sensible Instances of Expressions which have no determinate signification In his Book how Men ought to study the Poets he tells us that several things attributed to the Gods are not to be understood of the Gods themselves but of Destiny or Fortune When Hesiod for the purpose forbids us to reproach any Man with his Poverty because this is the Disposal and Gift of the * i.e. the Gods Blessed that exist eternally Plutarch hath this Remark The Poet calls that the Gift of the Gods which depends upon Fortune He tells us we ought not to blame those whom Fortune hath made poor but that Poverty is then blamable and reproachful when attended with Idleness Meanness of Spirit Effeminacy and Prodigality in the Person labouring under it For the Name of Fortune being not yet commonly used and Men being sensible that their utmost Prudence could not obstruct the sovereign Power of a Cause acting without Rule or Method they described this Cause by attributing it to the Gods And afterwards having cited some Verses of Homer which seem to make Jupiter the Author of Evil he adds that by Jupiter we are to understand Destiny or Fortune which are Causes which we cannot comprehend and such as have no dependence at all upon our selves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These Words shew plainly that those Expressions are Names for two very dark Ideas and which are little if at all different from Nothing Now though this Observation be most true yet men are so used to talk what they do not understand and at the same time to fancy they understand what they say perfectly well that the same Expressions continue still in use To say nothing at present of Fortune which will come under our Consideration by and by we every Day hear Men expressing themselves after this manner that such a one was brought to such a place by his Good or Ill Fate that his Good Fate put him upon venturing in such a Lottery where he got a good Benefit That his Ill Destiny ordained he should put in a greater Sum than he could afford in a Lottery where he drew nothing but Blanks That his Good Destiny brought him a good Lot That his Ill Destiny kept him from winning and a world of other such like Forms of Speech in common Conversation If the much greater part of Men who talk thus were called upon to explain their own meaning they would find themselves wretchedly at a loss For most People in speaking are governed more by Custom than by Knowledge and Consideration They use this Word upon some Occasions which they find it applied to before by others without attending to any Sense of it I have often made the Experiment and found that Men who had their good and ill Fate constantly in their Mouths have not been able to answer me when I asked what they meant by it They were surprised at my enquiring what they intended by so common an Expression but yet they were not able to make me understand what they would be at when they used it If we consult the Gentlemen of the French Academy they tell us in their Dictionary that the Philosophers gave this Name to a necessary Chain of Causes subordinate to each other which never fail of producing their Effect and that the Poets understood by it a Power to which the Gods themselves are subject This Definition is much the same with the former only not altogether so exact And besides these Gentlemen had no reason to make a difference between the Poets and the Philosophers for both agreed in thinking the Gods subject to Destiny as I could easily shew were it necessary to my purpose I need not insist longer upon this Definition after what hath been said to That of the Stoicks But they have given us another whereby they seem to intend an Explication of Fate and Destiny as they