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THE CONTROVERSIALL DIVINE

63

large profers, without any Commission to treat, and so the Romish Church not bound to pay their promises. In Merionethshire in Wales there are high mountains, whose hanging tops come so close together that shepherds on the tops of severall hills may audibly talk together, yet will it be a dayes journey for their bodies to meet, so vast is the hollownesse of the vallies betwixt them. Thus upon sound search shall we find a grand distance and remotenesse betwixt Popish and Protestant tenents to reconcile them, which at the first view may seem near, and tending to an accomodation.

13. He is resolute and stable in fundamentall points of Religion. These are his fixed poles, and axle-tree about which he moves, whilest they stand unmovable. Some sail so long on the Sea of controversies, toss'd up and down, to and fro, Pro and Con, that the very ground to them seems to move, and their judgements grow scepticall and unstable in the most settled points of Divinity. When he cometh to Preach, especially if to a plain Auditory, with the Paracelsians he extracts an oyl out of the driest and hardest bodies, and knowing that knotty timber is unfit to build with, he edifies people with easie and profitable matter.

The Good Merchant

Is one who by his trading claspeth the iland to the continent, and one countrey to another. An excellent gardiner, who makes England bear wine, and oyl, and spices; yea herein goes beyond Nature in causing that Omnis fert omnia tellus. He wrongs neither himself nor the Commonwealth, nor private chapmen which buy commodities of him.

As for his behaviour towards the Commonwealth, it farre surpasses my skill to give any Rules thereof; onely this I know, that to export things of necessity, and to bring in forrein needlesse toyes, makes a rich Merchant, and a poore Kingdome: for the State loseth her radicall moysture, and gets little better then sweat in exchange, except the necessaries which are exported be exceeding plentifull, which then though necessary in their own nature become superfluous through their abundance. We will content our selves to give some generall advertisements concerning his behaviour towards his chapmen, whom he useth well in the quantity, quality, and price of the commodities he sells them.

Maxime 1. He wrongs not the buyer in Number, Weight, or Measure. These are the Landmarks of all trading, which must not be removed : for such cosenage were worse then open felony. First, because they rob a man of his purse, and never bid him stand. Secondly, because highwaythieves defie, but these pretend justice. Thirdly, as much as lies in their power, they endeavour to make God accessary to their cosenage, deceiving by pretending his weights. For God is the principall clark of the market, All the weights of the bag are his work.

2. He never warrants any ware for good but what is so indeed. Otherwise he is a thief, and may be a murtherer, if selling such things as are apply'd inwardly. Besides, in such a case he counts himself guilty if he selleth such wares as are bad, though without his knowledge, if avouching them for good; because he may, professeth, & is bound

THE GOOD MERCHANT

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to be Master in his own mystery, and therefore in conscience must recompense the buyers losse, except he gives him an Item to buy it at his own adventure.

3. He either tells the faults in his ware, or abates proportionably in the price he demands: for then the low value shews the viciousnesse of it. Yet commonly when Merchants depart with their commodities, we heare (as in funerall orations) all the virtues but none of the faults thereof.

4. He never demands out of distance of the price he intends to take: If not alwayes within the touch, yet within the reach of what he means to sell for. Now we must know there be foure severall prices of vendible things. First, the Price of the market, which ebbes and flows according to the plenty or scarcity of coyn, commodities, and chapmen. Secondly, the Price of friendship, which perchance is more giving then selling, and therefore not so proper at this time. Thirdly the Price of fancie, as twenty pounds or more for a dog or hauk, when no such inherent worth can naturally be in them, but by the buyers and sellers fancie reflecting on them. Yet I believe the money may be lawfully taken. First, because the seller sometimes on those terms is as loth to forgo it, as the buyer is willing to have it. And I know no standard herein whereby mens affections may be measured. Secondly, it being a matter of pleasure, and men able and willing, let them pay for it, volenti non fit injuria. Lastly, there is the Price of cosenage, which our Merchant from his heart detests and abhorres.

5. He makes not advantage of his chapmans

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ignorance chiefly if referring himself to his honesty: where the sellers conscience is all the buyers skill, who makes him both seller and judge, so that he doth not so much ask as order what he must pay. When one told old Bishop Latimer that the Cutler had cosened him, in making him pay two-pence for a knife not (in those dayes) worth a peny; No, quoth Latimer, he cosen'd not me but his own conscience. On the other side S. Augustine tells us of a seller, who out of ignorance asked for a book farre lesse then it was worth, and the buyer (conceive himself to be the man if you please) of his own accord gave him the full value thereof.

6. He makes not the buyer pay the shot for his prodigality; as when the Merchant through his own ignorance or ill husbandry hath bought dear, he will not bring in his unnecessary expences on the buyers score: and in such a case he is bound to sell cheaper then he bought.

7. Selling by retail he may justifie the taking of greater gain: because of his care, pains, and cost of fetching those wares from the fountain, and in parcelling and dividing them. Yet because retailers trade commonly with those who have least skill what they buy, and commonly sell to the poorer sort of people, they must be carefull not to grate on their necessity.

But how long shall I be retailing our rules to this Merchant? It would employ a Casuist an apprenticeship of years: take our Saviours wholesale rule, Whatsoever ye would have men do unto you, do you unto them; for this is the Law, and the Prophets.

THE GOOD SEA-CAPTAIN

The good Sea-Captain

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CONCEIVE him now in a Man of warre, with his letters of mart, well arm'd victuall'd and appointed, and see how he acquits himself.

Maxime 1. The more power he hath, the more carefull he is not to abuse it. Indeed a Sea-captain is a King in the Iland of a ship, supreme Judge, above appeal, in causes civill and criminall, and is seldome brought to an account in Courts of Justice on land, for injuries done to his own men at

sea.

2. He is carefull in observing of the Lords day. He hath a watch in his heart though no bells in a steeple to proclaim that day by ringing to prayers. Sr Francis Drake in three years sailing about the world lost one whole day, which was scarce considerable in so long time. 'Tis to be feared some Captains at sea lose a day every week, one in seven, neglecting the Sabbath.

3. He is as pious and thankfull when a tempest is past, as devout when 'tis present: not clamorous to receive mercies, and tongue-tied to return thanks. Many mariners are calm in a storm, and storm in a calm, blustring with oathes. In a tempest it comes to their turn to be religious, whose piety is but a fit of the wind, and when that's allayed, their devotion is ended.

4. Escaping many dangers makes him not presumptuous to run into them. Not like those Seamen who (as if their hearts were made of those rocks they have often sayled by) are so alwayes in death they never think of it. These in their navigations observe that it is farre hotter under the

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