Winter meditations directions how to employ the leisure of the winter for the glory…

But if the mispence of the Winter in Excesses ⟨p. 10⟩of Eating and of Drinking, do deserve a Caution, why should not the Mispence of the Winter in GAMING, do so too? Especially the Games of pure L•t, whereof thus much at least may be maintained, That it is best for an Christians to abstain from them. Although' moderate Recreations in the Winter, are more than a little Healthful and Useful, yet there are some Recreations too much used in the Winter, which in Truth are never convenient; such are the Games of CARDS, & DICE, and those which have nothing but CHANCE to manage them. A Lot is a solemn Appeal unto the God of Heaven; and hence to play with it, seems to break the Third Commandment in the Laws of our God. L•••ry Lots are by Great and Grave Divines Esteemed Unlawful, on the same Score that, as our worthy Morton, in his Rebuke to the Gaming Humour well Expresses it, It would be an Abomination unto any Christian, to see a Pulpit, a Communion-Table, a Font, Exposed on a Stage, or the Gestures of Worship •iped by Players. In every L•t, an Affair is wholly committed unto a Superior Cause than either Nature, or Art, & Skill; and this is a Thing to be done rather Prayerfully than Sportfully; even the Rudest Gentiles have counted a Lot, A Sacred Thing. The Papists themselves, will not allow of these Games in Ecclesiastical Persons; and the Fathers Reproved them with a vehement Zeal, in all manner of persons. When the Roman Empire became Christian, severe Edicts were made against these James; and what Christians are we then that ⟨p. 11⟩practise them. Our Protestant Reformers have branded these Games with an Infamous Character; yea, •usty the Orator himself, could produce it, as a Reproach unto some Ill men, that they were given to these Games. For which cause He that will follow, Whatsoever Things are of Good Report, will not meddle with such Infamous Things as these. In every Indenture for an Apprentice these words are usual, At Cards, Dice, or any other Unlawful and Prohibited Games, he shall not Play. And shall we that are by Covenant, the Bound Servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, offer to Play at Games, that have been so Stigmatized? This however, you may be sure of; There is a Truth in that Observation, That all the money got by these Games, is Like the Goods of th which Die of the Plague, which commend, bring a Fest with them.