3. Why doth he also waver from himself; for he citeth[1184] out of the Helvetic Confessor Jerome's definition of a thing indifferent, [pg 1-385] and approveth it. Indifferens, saith he, illud est quod nec bonum nec malum est, ut sive feceris sive non feceris, nec justitiam habeas nec injustitiam. Behold the goodness which is excluded from the nature of a thing indifferent is not only necessity but righteousness also, yet hath the Doctor excluded only the good of necessity from things indifferent, making the other good of righteousness to stand with them; for things which are done in faith, and done for the right end (such as he acknowledgeth these things to be which he calleth indifferent), have righteousness in them, as all men know.
CHAPTER III.
WHETHER THERE BE ANYTHING INDIFFERENT IN ACTU EXERCITO.
Sect. 1. For our better light in this question I will premit these considerations, 1. When we measure the goodness or the badness of a human action, we must not only measure it by the object and the end, but by all the circumstances which accompany it. Fed. Morellus,[1185] upon those words of Seneca, Refert quid, cui, quando, quare, ubi, &c., saith, that without those circumstances of things, persons, times, places, facti ratio non constat. Circumstances sometimes constituunt rerum earum quae aguntur speciem, say our divines,[1186] meaning that circumstances do make an action good or bad. Humani actus, say the schoolmen,[1187] non solum ex objectis, verum ex circumstantiis boni vel mali esse dicuntur. It is not every man's part, saith one of our opposites,[1188] to judge de circumstantia, quae reddit actionem vel bonam vel malam. “Some circumstances, saith another of them,[1189] are intrinsical and essential to actions, and specially making up their nature.” The principal circumstances which here we speak of, are comprehended in this versicle:—
Quis, quid, ubi, quibus auxiliis, cur quomodo,
quando.
The first circumstance which maketh an action good or bad is quis, which designeth [pg 1-386] the person: If a magistrate put to death a malefactor, the action is good; but if a private person put him to death, it is evil.
The second is quid, which noteth the quality or condition of the object: If a man take sua, the action is good; if aliena, it is evil.
The third is ubi: If men banquet in their own houses, the action is good; if in the church, it is evil.