In truth, the mind of man, unaided by Divine light, is not able to determine what is absolutely right or absolutely wrong. In the realm of morals, man is to be guided only by the decrees of God, if known. For those who recognize the Bible as His word, the way is clear. Aside from this, the path is dark and uncertain. But nowhere in either the Old or New Testament, is gambling forbidden. Not a word did Moses or Jesus utter against it, as a general principle, or in any of its particular forms. What is commanded by God is our only test of right and wrong. Theology is of man, and yet it is a fact that gambling, in itself, is not inconsistent with the profession of any creed in Christendom. The ablest theologian cannot successfully challenge this proposition.
For the sake of argument, heretofore, I have granted the moral freedom of man. The fact is, I deny his “liberty,” save in the most restricted sense. I am convinced every action is determined by the resultant force of conflicting motives. However, the possible autonomy of man is not necessary to a consideration of what it is right or best to do. It is only when we ask about the conduct of man, in his relation to the law, that it is important to know whether he could have done otherwise. I reserve the topic for a subsequent chapter.
Be this as it may, certain conclusions are obvious to the impartial observer. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to draw a strict boundary between the virtues and vices. Courage should not be carried to the point of rashness. Timidity is the abuse of prudence. Generosity can degenerate into improvidence. Reverence might merge into credulity and superstition. Arrogance is the extreme of self-respect. Chastity is overdone by the monastic. Some writers, in fact, deny a fixed line between the virtuous and vicious passions; this class boldly maintain a place for both vices and virtues. Hatred may be just and anger magnificent. Although out of place in a drawing-room, obstinacy is a virtue on the field of battle. Love is divine and lust monstrous. Are they not yoke-fellows? Reformers, so called, are impossible without stupid candor and impassive bluntness. Timidity, on the other hand, is the defect of a sensitive temperament. Sensuality underlies the domain of art, painting, sculpture and music.
This is suggested by Plato in the “Phædrus”—an allegory of the soul, wherein the spirit of man is depicted as a chariot to which are attached a white and black horse. The first typifies our higher and the latter our lower passions.
Mr. Lecky writes in his “History of Morals,” that in society certain defects necessarily accompany certain excellencies of character. He remarks, “Had the Irish peasants been less chaste they would have been more prosperous.” “Habitual liars and habitual cheats have been industrious, amiable and prudent.” “Civilization is not favorable to self-sacrifice, reverence, enthusiasm or chastity.” He declares of the gambling table, “that it fosters a moral nerve and calmness scarcely exhibited in equal perfection in any other sphere—a fact which Bret Harte has finely illustrated in his character of Mr. John Oakhurst, in the ‘Outcasts of Poker Flat.’”
This thought is boldly illustrated by Mandeville, in his “Fable of the Bees:”
“These were called knaves, but, bar the name,
The grave industrious were the same:
All trades and places knew some cheat,
No calling was without deceit.
The root of evil, avarice,
That damn’d, ill-natured, baneful vice,
Was slave to prodigality,
That noble sin; whilst luxury
Employed a million of the poor,
And odious pride a million more:
Envy, itself, and vanity
Were ministers of industry,
Their darling folly, fickleness,
In diet, furniture and dress,
That strange, ridiculous vice, was made
The very wheel that turned the trade.”
The author of this unique production announced that his main design was to indicate the impossibility of enjoying all the most elegant comforts of life “that are to be met with in an industrious, wealthy and powerful nation, and at the same time be blessed with all the virtue and innocence that can be wished for in a golden age; from thence to expose the folly and unreasonableness of those that, desirous of being an opulent and flourishing people, are wonderfully greedy after all the benefits they can receive as such, are yet always murmuring against those vices and inconveniences, that from the beginning of the world to the present day, have been inseparable from all the kingdoms and states that ever were formed for strength, riches and politeness.”
“To do this, I first slightly touch upon some of the faults and corruptions the several professions and callings are generally charged with. After that I show that those very vices of every particular person, by skillful management, were made subservient to the grandeur and worldly happiness of the whole. Lastly, by setting forth what of necessity must be the consequence of general honesty, virtue, innocence, content and temperance, I demonstrate that if mankind could be cured of the failings they are naturally guilty of, they would cease to be capable of being raised into such vast, potent, and polite societies, as they have been under the several commonwealths and monarchies that have flourished since creation.”