DirelJ. 5• Dire{J.6. '?:!•ft· 2· Cafes about Opprefsion, eJPecial~ of Tenants. proud felf.fecking men difdain fuch infcriour converfe, and if they have fervants that do but tell them their Tenants have a good bargain, and are murmuring, umhrifry, idle perfons, they belit:vc them wirhouc any more enquiry; and in negligent ignorance opprefs the poor. ~· 18. DireCt. 5· Mortifie your own lujls andfinfnl curitJjity, wbicb makcth ynH thinlt tbat you need fo mtech, as tempteth you to get it by oppreffing others. Know well how little is truly necdfary? And how little natur.e ( well·uught ) is CLlntcmed with? And what a priviledge it is to need but little? Pride and curiality are an iofatiable gulf. Their daily trouble feemcrh to them a necdfary accommodation. Such abundance mu!l be laid out on fuperfluous recreations, buildings, ornaments furniture, equipage, attendants, entertainments , viiitations, bravcries, and a world of Httd-not/ (called by the names of handfomnefs, clcanlinefs, neatnefs, conveniences, delights, ufc.:fulnefs ha: nours, civilities, comelincfs, &c.) So much doth carnal concupifcence, pride and curiofity thu; de– vour, that hundreds of the poor ~ufi be op~rctTe~ _to mai~tain ~t : And ~any a ~an that h:uh many fcore or hundred Tenants, who With all their farmhes, da1ly tOll to get htm prov1fion for his fldh!y luns, doth find at the years end,that all 'l'ill hardly fcrve the turn; but this greedy devourer could lind room for more : when one of his poor Tenants could liye and maintain all his family comfortably if he had but as much as his Landlord bcfioweth upon onefuit ofClothes, or one proud entertain: menr, or one Horfe, or on a pack of Hounds. I am not perfwading the highcfi to leveJ their garb and c:xpe11ces equal with the lowefi: But mortifie pride, curiofi1y and gluttony, and you will find Jefs need to opprcfs the: poor , or to feed your concupifccncc: with the fweat and groans of the ,ffii6ted. 9. 19· Direct. 6. Be not the foie Judge ef your own aliions in a controverted c~fe; but ifany com.. plain of you, hear the judgement of others that are wife and impJrtial in the c.1jt. .t·or it is eaiie to mjf. judge where feU-incerdt is concerned. p. 20· DireCt. 7· Lo7Jt your poor brethren 41 your [elver, and delight in their welfare, as if it were yottr own. And then you will never opprefs them willingly; and if you do it ignorantly, you will quickly fit! it and givt over upon their juil complaint: As you will quickly feel when you hurt your felvcs, and need no great exhortation to forbear. Tit. 1. Cafes of Co1z{cience about Opprefsion , especially of Tenants. Q!cft. I· IS it lawful for a mean man, JPbo muff nuds make tbe heft of it, to purcbafe tenant– ed Land of a liberal Landlord, who [ellttb hi; Tenants a much better pennywortb than the buyer can afft~rd. Anfw. Dil\ingui!h I· Between a feller who undcrnandeth all this, and one that doth not: !2,. Between a Tenant that hath by c:ufiomc a half-ride to his eaficr Rent, and one that bath not: 3· Between a Tenant that confenteth, and one that confentcth not; -+·Between buying it when aJi. beral man might elfe have bought it, and buying it when a worfe elfe would have bought it. 5· Be– tween a cafe of fcandal, and of no fcandal• . And fo I anfwer, I· If the Landlord that fdleth it expeCt: th<t the buyer do ufe the Tenants as well as he hath done, and fell it accordingly, it is unright<ous to do otherwife ( ordinarily). 2• In many Countreys it is the cullomc not to rurn out a Tenant, nor ro raife his rent; fo that ma– DY generations have held the fame Land at the fame renr ~ which though it give no legal title) is yet a half-tide in commen efiimation. In fuch a cafe ir wili be fcandalous, and infamous, and in– jurious, and therefore unlawful to purchafe it with a purpofe to raifc the rent, and do a'cordingly. 3· In cafe: that a better Landlord would buy it, who would ufe the Tenant better than you can.•do, it is not ( ordinarily) lawful for you to buy it. I either exprefs or imply [ordinarily J in moll of my lOiutions; b.ccaufe that there are fame exceptions lye againfi almoft all fuch anfwcrs, in extraordi– nary cafes; which the grcatefi Volume can fcarce enumerate. But if 1. It be the fellers own doing to withdraw his liberality fo far from his Tenants , as to fell his Land or1 hard rates, on fuppofition that the buyer will improve it: 2· And if it be a Tenant that cannot either by cufiome or any 10thcr plea, put in a claim in point of equity to his eafie-rcmc:d Land; 3· And if as bad a Landlord would buy it if you do not: 4.1f it be not a real li:andal; I fay if all thc[e four concurr : 5• Or ( alone ) if the Tenant confent freely to your purchafe on thofe terms; then it is no inJury. But the common courfe is, for a covetous man that hath money, never to can.. fidu what a lofer the Tenant is by his purchafe, but to buy and improve the Land at his own plea– Cure ; which is no better than Oppreffion. Q!dt. 2• May not a Landlord tak..,t a1 mueh for his Land as it is worth l Anfw. l· Somttimes it is Land that no man can claim an equitable title to hold upon any cafier renr. and fornetimes iris otherwife, as aforefaid, by rofiorne and long pofTdfion, or orher reafons. 2. Somerimes the Tenant is one that you are obliged to lhew !11trcy to ; and fometimes he is one rhac no more than commutative ]ufiice is due to. And fo I anfwer, I· If it bt an old Tenant who by cullomc or any other ground can claim an equitable title to his old pennyworth, you may not enhaun'e
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