Treatise on the Morals and Discipline of Human Conduct

.6. argument theory? that but also in the second [part], distinction 24, question 1.
.11. argument 3. in the final solution?. argument in the matters? of women concerning
the Law? that God, in governing offspring? and provinces, moves them, namely
that by his own governance he not only disposes
and prepares lower natures to receive his influence,
but also how and when they are ordained through instruments or games The author is suggesting that even leisure activities like games might fall under the umbrella of divine order or "signs" rather than mere chaos..
This signifies that there is a sign and not disorder. Hence it is that a certain game, which is called the game of cards, has come to us in this year,
namely in the Year of our Lord 1377. In this game, the state of the world as it is in these modern times is most excellently described and
depicted. At what time it was made, or by whom, or where,
I am entirely ignorant. This, however, I assert: that it is beneficial to
nobles and other idle men, so that they might not commit?
worse things; especially if they practice this game with a certain courtesy and
without money. And this same point regarding honest men and games is made by
Lord Albertus Magnus A 13th-century Dominican friar and polymath, teacher of Thomas Aquinas and Thomas [Aquinas], the Doctor referring to the "Angelic Doctor" Thomas Aquinas, who
dealt with this in the Secunda Secundae The second part of the second part of Aquinas's "Summa Theologica," focusing on ethics and virtues, distinction 16, question 2...
question 168, articles 2, 3, and 4. There he says that these games
are permitted to those who work, and he assigns a time for them, since
a man weighed down by labors needs bodily rest; yet, as experience shows, he also needs comfort
and revitalization. However, this comfort found in such honest
games sometimes does not prejudice [devotion], unless it finds
others who are more devoted to rest and revitalization. This is what
the Philosopher Standard medieval term for Aristotle says in the fourth book of the Ethics Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics:
that in the repose of human life, some kings have

amusement with a game. In [light of this], I, Brother Johannes, the least in the
Order of Preachers The Dominican Order, German by birth, while sitting away
from the table and revolving in my heart
the current state of the world,

suddenly there occurred to me the game of cards.
And since it could be adapted to the state of the world, I found...