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cause_n	great_a	place_n	see_v	2,893	5	3.1798	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A15369	The debt book: or, A treatise vpon Romans 13. ver. 8 Wherein is handled: the ciuill debt of money or goods, and vnder it the mixt debt, as occasion is offered. Also, the sacred debt of loue. By Henry Wilkinson, Bachelor in Diuinity, and pastor of Wadesdon in Buckinghamshire.	Wilkinson, Henry, 1566-1647.	1625 (1625)	STC 25646; ESTC S114431	56,271	156

consider the vnsatiable Daughters of the Prou. 30. 15 Horsleech 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 giue ouer house-keeping 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 onely 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 vpon 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 haue 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 haue 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 vnder the Vsurers chain with a thousand pound a yeere yea and much more chearefully Let vs 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 vpon 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 vs 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 giue them intertainment as wee cannot choose but doe so long as wee are in debt CHAP. 9. A confutation of such Apologies as men plead for their continuing in debt THat the Apostles counsell of owing nothing to any man may the better be followed three things remaine to be added to this discourse First I would shew the vanitie of those Apologies which men haue deuised for continuing in debt Secondly how to auoid it that we come not into it Thirdly how to get out of the snare if wee be intangled That debt is a consumer of credit and state of goods and good name howeuer some men thinke the contrarie yet there is no question to be made How ofter do we see that as after the biting of an Aspe the man smitten fals asleepe but the poison dispearseth it selfe through euerie member till the whole bodie be poisoned So after debt contracted specially vpon the hard tearmes of vsurie or ill conditions the debter is lulled a sleepe by the sweetnes of the present supply but the debt passeth as a poison through euery part of a mans substance donec totum conuertatur in debitum till all be turned into debt it is Chrysostomes comparison Yet In Matth. 5 for all that as the dropsie-man delighteth in abundance of drink though most hurtfull in that disease because it satisfies the present appetite so men in debt alreadie are willing to continue yea to multiply the same because thereby their present need is serued though it be neuer so pernicious in the conclusion Let vs see their allegations and accordingly determine First they hold it lawfull without all Allega ∣ tion 1 question to borrow when they can and thinke it conuenient and make no scruple at all to continue in an vsurious debt for many yeers together and cōmonly so far and so long as they can giue security they will neuer by their good wils come clearly out of debt for howsoeuer they condemne the lender vpon vsurie at least in their consciences though they dare not tell him so yet they take the borrower to be cleere and rather to bee pitied then censured by any But in this as I take it they are deceiued For though the case may so be put that a man may borrow and ought to borrow euen vpon vsury if there bee no other remedy as when money is payable vpon forfeiture of a Lease or of a Bond or of a mans liuing and the party that owes it is vtterly and suddenly disappointed by another then is hee by the reason of the hardnesse of mens hearts who will not helpe him at such a need ineuitably cast vpon the Vsurer as chusing of two euills of losse the lesse Yet to sticke and to continue in the Vsurers furnace which will leaue a man at last neither mettle nor matter I hold it to bee vtterly against prudent frugality which is a duety of the eight Commandement most requisite for the discreet dispensing both of plentifull and poore Estates and necessary to bee obserued by such as intend an intire obedience vnto God as well in one thing as in another without which the royalty of Salomon could not haue consisted for all his riches I know that as in full bodies euacuations may bee not hurtfull yet if a

must deale truely and worthily both with the dead and with the liuing For as the counterfetting and forging Lege Corn. de falsis of a false Will was punishable anciently in some cases by death in some by banishment and publication of goods so the suppressing of a true will by not publishing or not performing it to those whom it doth concerne is a sinne and an iniquity not much inferior to the other the one iustifies a dangerous lye the other conceales a necessary truth not without periury perhaps in both It was sometimes Dauids complaint Defecerunt veraces Psal 12. 1. a filiis hominum The trustie are failed frō among the sons of men The complaint is still iust in this particular as much as in any I am perswaded very few Wills are executed by the common sort of men in estates of any value without some notable fraud partly by alledging when paiments should be made defect in the state and partly by concealing legacies from those who cannot demand them out of ignorance of the Will to whom I say that so long as wrong reckoning is no paiment that the debt remaineth in the sight of God how euer it bee crossed out of their accounts They shall also finde that * Luk. 16. 11. for being vnfaithfull in the dispensation of earthly talents they shall neuer bee trusted with the true treasure It may also one day be their owne case that as they haue cancelled and made void the Will of the dead by deteining debts and legacies from the right owners so by the iust iudgment of God the like * Mat. 7. 2. measure may be meated to their widowes and fatherlesse children by those whom they shall vnworthily put in trust wee may not thinke an account discharged when a fraud and a deceit is cunningly contriued A debt cannot bee paid but by reall satisfaction without which the obligation remaineth in full strength and force vpon the conscience whereof an honest heart cannot but bee tenderly sensible And therefore I am not of Cyprians minde who tooke order Ne quis Clericum tutorem Cyp. Epist 66. aut curatorem testamento constitueret That none should appoint a Clergie man Guardian or Executor by Will lest hee should bee molested with the affaires of this life I rather thinke that men should bee chosen out of all vocations and callings whatsoeuer of most vnstained conuersation and conscience most alienated from couetousnesse least intangled in worldlinesse for the dispensation of our estate to whom it is intended Before I leaue this point let mee ad one caueat to Parents and Testators not to charge their Wills with that which their state cannot discharge for this is the way either to haue nothing done at all or to expose their executors or successors to perpetuall suites and clamours A man were better sell all that he can spare and pay his owne debts himselfe then out of an ambitious humour of leauing so much in lands to his Heire lay withall vpon him such a masse of debts legacies as shall mancipate him to the ineuitable yoake of the Vsurer till hee can redeeme himselfe by selling what is most precious in his patrimonie which when one is compelled to doe let him then consider whether the great possessions which came to him by inheritance were not partly the spoile of the Church the prey of the poore and the fruits of oppression which like Aurum Tolosanum the gold of Tolosa Aul. Gel. lib. 3. makes euery hand vnfortunate into which it comes let him also well consider whether the intollerable masse of debt be not that vnmoueable yoake spoken of by Micah and threatned to them Micha 2. 2. 3. who couet fields and take them by force who roote out men and their families threatned I say to them and their posterity Let them lastly consider whether a small thing to the righteous man be not Psal 37. 16. better then great riches to the wicked and mighty howeuer some of them florish till the measure of their iniquity be at the full Thus of the first kinde of debts imposed by others the next are Legal CHAP. 4. Of Legall debts and first to the Magistrate THE debts imposed by humane laws and ordinances are of diuers sorts as Subsidies Fifteenes Tenths Oblations and other pensions to the Church or to the Common wealth in peace or in warre These are common burdens which euery man in his place must necessarily beare as a member of a politicke body and readily for auoiding offence and molestation iustly ensuing vpon neglect These fall due either to the Magistrate specially to the Kings Maiestie or to the Minister or to the Poore In all these I know there is a morall right and so they may be called morall debts in respect of the common ground of diuine or naturall iustice But we call them legall debts Secundum regulam legis determinantis in respect of the Law determining thus much to such a man of such a calling at Aquin. prima secundae quest 99. art 5. such a time it 's Aquinas his distinction The ground of such debts as come to the Magistrate is from divine Authority though for the manner and measure of them determinable by law For if the Magistrate be Gods Minister so is hee Rom. 13. 4. 6. called both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if for our wealth if for the punishment of euill doers and praise of them that doe well if hee labour and attend continually vpon this thing is there not an equity manifest to the conscience that such a workman so ordained of God for so excellent a seruice should haue his reward Or doth not the Apostle conclude inuincibly For this cause pay wee tribute Rom. 13. 6. and Ver. 7. pay therefore tribute custome feare honour to whom they are due Ministers of Peace and Iustice as they should not consume their inferiours for so the remedie will be worse then the disease so should they not be constrained to spend vpon the stocke to wast their owne estate further then as members of eminent ability should beare a burden for the common good proportionable to their strength But Magistrates ought to haue Tributes and Pensions of their inferiours as pledges of subiection as recompences of seruice and as meanes to defray expences for the publike good euen equity and necessity requires all this Now because in Monarchies the perfection of earthly gouernments and types of the heauenly the King is supreame Gouernour not onely ouer all persons but in all causes Ecclesiasticall and Ciuil to see them done and managed according to Gods will by Officers qualified with gifts and callings requisite for such matters And seeing these Officers of eminent place and trust at home and abroad are imployed immediatly by the Kings Maiestie and consequently maintained by him that sets them on worke hereupon it is that by vertue of some lawes perpetually in force and by

Incumbents Of this kinde I haue heard many pretended but I could scarce euer see any produced lest some thing of aduantage should relieue the present Minister which shewes the obnoxious diffidence of a guilty heart when the cause is nought for otherwise men are forward to make proofe of their right for satisfaction of such as haue iust cause to question it But suppose a composition as firme as couetousnesse and craft can deuise it I would gladly learne how it stands with conscience or common sense that the act of an Incumbent onely for terme of life remoueable vpon preferment or misdemeanour should preiudice his Successor in a place of painfull seruice to the vtter impouerishment and vndoing of all posteritie Is it possible that in any lawfull contract the fruit of the godly and religious labours of a free and ingenuous man in the Lords haruest should bee bought and sould before he is borne by those who are meere strangers vnto him Or if this cannot bee done in any godly and righteous course why should not the ancient rule take place Quae contra tus fiunt pro infectis haberi debent That those things which are done against right ought to be esteemed as if they had not beene done The old word is Caueat Emptor let the buyer looke to it but I thinke both the buyer and seller being in this case brethren in euill had neede to looke to it lest they swallow that in earth which they shall digest in hell I doubt it will one day be a cold comfort to those who are parties to such an act to consider vpon their death-bed that by their sinfull hands the Church is depriued for the time present and to come of what soeuer hath fallen within their power to dispose of Can that mā haue any hope to be found a true member of the Church triumphant in heauē that liues dies a betrayer spoiler of the Church militant here on earth Prescription is another mousell of the Prescription Oxe that treadeth out the Corne the originall of this worke of darkenesse is commonly thus There are few great rich men to be found that can indure with patience to pay any Tyth in kinde hereupon they take their opportunity when some Minister is incumbent either not able to doe the worke or not resident or some other way obnoxious to agree with him for their Tyth at an vnder-value a pound perhaps in the hundreth pretending that they can vse the matter so as that the Tyth shall bee little or nothing worth vnto him yet this yearely pension they will allow for zeal to the Church and good will to the man whom they will not sticke to mollifie with complements or with any thing else that shall cost them nought these conditions are continued from the father to the child by the same arts and practises till a new man come to be presented who for quietnesse sake must take things as he finds them or if he dare contend they will scourge him through all the Courts of the kingdome When thus it hath beene caried for two or three descents though men know in their consciences that Non firmatur tractu temporis quod de iure ab initio non subsistit That it gets no validity by tract of time which is not grounded vpon right from the beginning yet from these deceitfull practises thus continued prescription doth arise to put the Minister to perpetuall silences who hauing spent his patrimony in the Vniuersitie hath neither time nor money nor euidence on the suddaine to mannage the Churches right though a prescription once begun consume it daily more and more For if the prescribers adde by purchase or inclosure to their demaines within the same Parish the thin and ill-fauoured prescribed pension like the * Gen. 41. 4 7. thin eares of corn and lean Kine in Pharaohs dreame will swallow vp all the Tythe of the portions so annexed and be neuer a whit the fuller On the other side if the prescribers chance to sell it s no sauoury bargaine vnlesse the Tythe be included and the Minister excluded out of that portion and confin'd to some smaller peece of ground more proportionable to his pitifull pension The time was when our Sauiour Ioh. 2. 14 15 16. in a feruent zeale cast buiers and sellers out of the Temple what will he doe one day to those who thus couetously incroach vpon the patrimony of the Temple Customes are no lesse pernicious to Customes the state of the Minister in keeping backe his due then these for as these exempt some particular persons or places in great matters so customes swallow all so far as they goe like a generall Deluge if they find a Benefice like the Garden of Eden they will leaue it like a desolate wildernesse I speake of such as are pretented vpon vsage without any euident reasonable cause whereby the Churches patrimony is most iniuriously detained and why should not euery man that is able to oppose reason and truth against them cry them downe For though it be true that diuturni mores consensu vtentium comprobati Iust lib. 1. ●●● 2. legem imitantur that manners long continued and approued by consent of such as haue vsed them are a kind of law yet consent and practise is not enough to giue a custome the power of a lawe vnlesse it be consensus rationabilis a consent grounded vpon reason nisi enim consuetudo ratione munita sit non est consuetudo sed corruptela If custome be not fortified by reason it is not a custome but a corruption Now it will be hard to proue either reason in the thing or consent of the Minister who is alwaies a party in those things which are obtruded as custome vpon the Church If men will sweare that it is their custome to pay no tyth wood then you must haue none though the greatest part of the Parish bee wood-ground If men will sweare that it is their custome not to pay tyth Wooll for sheep not wintered in the field then you must haue none though they haue a full stocke that takes I benefit of the Common for eight the most profitable moneths of the yeare but it may bee you shall haue some proportionable rate nothing lesse but some such contemptible scraps as are not worth the gathering vp which how it stands with reason or the good liking of the Minister let wise men iudge Yet if men will affirme vpon oath that these and the like are the customes of their Parish wee haue no remedie and customes seldome fail for lacke of swearing If theeues had come vnto thee if robbers by night would they not haue stollen that which were enough for them If Grape-gatherers had come to thee would they not have left some Graps Obadiah verse 5. but customes sweepe all away they leaue in a manner nothing The Church saies Austen discoursing of customes being August Ianuar Epist 119. placed in the