The Debt Book, Chapter 8
CHAP. 8. Of Voluntary Debts, tranſient and permanent.
VOluntary Debts are ſuch as might at firſt hauehave beene auoided, or ſatisfied and paied within ſome time conuenient, yet▪ were incurred notwithſtanding and continued, either to ſerue our turne for ſome profit, or perhaps for ſome delight; or, it may be, for reliefe of others in ſome extremity. I cenſure not all theſe with a note of reproofe, they may ſometimes be helpefull in compaſſing gainfull bargains, yea, in ſupplying the wants of ſuch as cannot ſhift for themſelues; thoſe only I miſlike which entangle men in worldly cares, in wilfull ſnares, and vnſupportable loſſes; and yet ſerue but to the ſatisfying of ſome fooliſh luſt when all is done.
Theſe voluntary debts are either caſuall and tranſient, or permanent and ſtanding. It is a caſuall debt which any man may incurre, Ex re nata; out of ſome preſent ſudden occaſion. Dauid is commanded by God to offer a Sacrifice to the Lord, in the Threſhing-floare of Arauna the Iebuſite. Dauid will not offer of that which ſhall coſt him nought, he therefore 1. Chro. 21. 25. 2. Sam. 24. 24.buyes the Threſhing floare at a price by it ſelfe for 600 ſickles of gold, and the Oxen for 50 ſickles of ſiluer: after this bargaine made, it was a caſuall Debt of Dauid till the money was paid, which I know was done ſpeedily: yet in eueryevery bargaine of ſale accompliſhed, as the buyer hath a property in the thing ſold, ſo oweth he a debt till paiment be made, be it ſooner, or later. Without theſe caſuall debts, the life of man doth not conſiſt, and in theſe, as a man needes not to bee ſcrupulous in making vſe of a friend for a ſhort time, ſo muſt he be exact & punctuall in keeping day; not keeping time makes a iar in payments, as well as in muſicke. He muſt alſo be cheereful in doing the like courteſie againe, whether it bee lending or forbearance. That which I call a tranſient debt, is alwaies like, often the ſame with this; when a man owes ſomewhat to a workeman, or a Tradeſman, for a ſhort time, or to a Seruant for his wages, till a ſet day, it is a tranſient debt, daily running and paſſing among men, and not ſetled or permanent in reſpect of time. In theſe we muſt be honeſt, and reall, and truſty, and ſpeedy. For as the Graſhopper is a burden to the aged: ſo a little thing deteined, or not duely performed, may be a troubleſome diſappointment to the poore (and the greateſt part are poore) and may afflict them by tedious delaies, when money hangs too long in the hands of ill paymaſters.
As for permanent and ſtanding debts, theſe are indeed, fundi calamitas; theſe breake downe as it were the blade of corn in the field; theſe, like wormes & moaths, fret out a mans eſtate, be it neuer ſo firme and ſound at the firſt. This commeth, when men able to giuegive ſecurity, borrow great ſummes of money or wares, without either purpoſe or poſſibility of payment, within any competent meaſure of time; and it is commonly procured, either out of a couetous deſire of purchaſing whatſoeuer lyeth conueniently; or out of a prodigall and riotous humour of ouer-ſpending vponupon luſts and curioſities; or by giuing more for a caſuall preferment then a man is worth; or by ſome other groſſe failing in iudgment; or indiſcretion about the diſpenſation of our eſtate.
Theſe are the lamentable conſuming debts, with which, when a mans credit is rent and torne, as it will be very quickly, then muſt the ancient inheritance bee morgaged, then muſt their beſt and deareſt friends be ingaged, then Seruants and Tenants muſt be brought to the ſtake, and bound for more then they are worth; then muſt depopulations and racking of rents, and defrauding of Miniſters be put in practiſe, and yet all too little, becauſe Amalecke, the licking people, I meane the nation of Vſurers and their Factors, as Cormorants fall vponupon the borrower. Then the debt is multiplied when the reuennues are diminiſhed, and the Vſurer conſumes all a mans encreaſe. Let no man continue in the Vſurers book for one and twenty yeares (as ſome are neuer out while they liue) for, a hundred pound, paying intereſt vponupon intereſt, after ten pound in the hundred, (ſuppoſe nothing giuen to Scriueners and Broakers, yet for his hundred pound) hee ſhall pay in that time ſix hundred & ſorty pound, beſides the principall, as appeares by calculation; which makes mee wonder why any man ſhould open his mouth for vſury, which thus opens her mouth, and enlargeth her bowells like hell, to ſwallow the poore Borrower.
Let thoſe who plead this cauſe conſider, that God diſpenſeth with no vſury, when Neſhek the biting, and Tarbith, which they call the toothleſſe Vſury are both condemned, Ezech. 18. 8. 13. that the lender, for eight or fiue in the hundred, deales not as he would be delt withall, for hee himſelfe would neither giuegive eight, nor fiue, nor two, if he could borrow freely; and the rule of louelove is, To doe to all men as wee would they ſhould doe to vsus, Mat. 7. 12. Let them conſider, how Vſury is cried downe, among other oppreſſions, Nehem. 5. and Pſal. 15. 5. How it is condemned by the Councell of Nice Concil. tom. 1. Concil. Nic. Cap. 18. ſecundum Ruffin. can. 17.in Clergie-men, as matter of filthy lucre, (if filthy lucre in Miniſters, then no righteous dealing in others.) How it hath beene the vtter ruine of many thouſands in our Nation; how in the Church of Rome at this day, all Vſurers are excommunicated monethly; how no man of note in all antiquity (Iewes & Manichees excepted) none I ſay of honeſty and learning, for fifteene hundred yeares after Chriſt hath euer vndertaken the defence hereof: wherfore as Ioaſh ſometimes ſaid Iudg. 6. 30, 31.to the men of Hophra, when they ſtood for Baal againſt Gideon, Will you contend for Baal? let him plead his owne cauſe: ſo ſay I to the patrons of Vſury; Will you contend for Mammon? let him plead his owne cauſe. Shall Tirus and Zidon riſe Mat. 11. 21.vp in iudgment againſt Corazin and Bethſaida, for not bringing fruit anſwerable to their meanes? And ſhall not the Romaniſts riſe vp in iudgment againſt vsus for practiſing that oppreſſion, which they, who walke not by ſo cleere a light, condemne? Let the Borrower himſelfe alſo conſider the vnſatiable Daughters of the Prou. 30. 15Horſleech, that ſucke him, and deuoure the ſweat of his face, the fruit of his labour, induſtry, and skill. If the King ſhould take out of the poore mans ground three of his beſt Kine yearly, or ſo many horſes out of his Teame, would hee not crye, that he muſt needs giuegive ouer houſekeeping, and husbandry? Yet, the Borrower of 100 pound from yeare to yeare, ſuffers, in effect, all this which I ſay, at the hands of the Vſurer, and dare not ſpeake a word againſt his conſumer; but onelyonly ſuffers and giues thankes. If one word of diſcontentment fall from him, then muſt the ſtocke bee ſold, that ſatisfaction may be made, leſt any aduantage of forfeiture be taken. If an vſurious contract for ſo ſmall a ſumme, make ſuch a breach into a mans eſtate, what will the borrowing of thouſands doe for many yeeres together? When I ſee any man of eminent place and worth, caſt vponupon the Vſurer (whoſe mercies are cruel) for greater matters then he is able to weild, I cannot but interpret it as a diſmall ſigne of ſome fatall ruine to the family: or, at leaſt of ſome notable defalcation of eſtate, for cauſes beſt knowne to God, and ſometimes apparant to the eies of the world.
Moreouer, this ſoaking and ſtanding debt, doth ſo exerciſe and afflict ſome men deepely engaged, that it takes vp better ſtudies & meditations, it ſpends much precious time in ſolicitation of Broaker, Lender, and Suerties; it leaues no free time for praier & repentance; it drownes the comforts which men otherwiſe might enioy, when they ſee how debt conſumes them day and night; yea, and continues ſtill, without any diminution of the ſum. Much perhaps ſome borrowers hauehave in lands, and in revennues, in poſſeſſion and expectation, but as Alexander the great ſomtimes ſaid: Quid refert ſi multa habeam Plutarch in Alex.& nihil agam, what matters it if I hauehave much and doe nothing? So ſay I, what is one the better for a great eſtate; if debt bind his hands, from doing good to the poore anſwerably, from prouiding for younger children, from reſtoring the Miniſters right?
If a man out of debt will doe more good with a hundreth, then a man vnderunder the Vſurers chain with a thouſand pound a yeere, yea and much more chearefully. Let vsus then bee thus farre indulgent to our ſelues, as to ſhake off the deadly yoak of Billes and Obligations, which mancipate the moſt free and ingenuous ſpirit, and drie vp the very fountaines of liberalitie. Yea, they ſo put a man out of aime, that he cannot ſet his ſtate in order, but liues and dyes intangled and puſled with cares and ſnares; and after a tedious and laborious life paſſed in a circle of fretting thoughts, he leaues, at laſt, inſtead of better patrimonie a world of intricate troubles to his poſteritie, and to his ſureties, which cannot be mannaged by thoſe who vnderſtand them not but to great diſaduantage.
When *Acts and Monumēts, Vol. 2. p. 1692. col. 2.Arch-biſhop Cranmer (as is recorded in his life, by reuerend M. Foxe) diſcerned the ſtorme which after fell vponupon him in Queene Maries dayes, he tooke expreſſe order for the paiment of all his his debts; which when it was done a moſt ioifull man was he, that hauing ſet his affaires in order with men, he might conſecrate himſelfe more freely to God. This ſhould teach vsus all in this tumultuous and raging world, to free our ſelues ſo much as is poſſible, from the bonds of debt to men, that wee may more freely and conſtantly performe our duties and vowes to God, which will otherwiſe be interrupted, if not vtterly aboliſhed by wordly cares and moleſtations; if wee giuegive them intertainment, as wee cannot chooſe but doe, ſo long as wee are in debt.