SCRIPTURE RULES to be Observed in Buying and Selling.
Rules concerning Buying Commodities.
1. IF you would not transgress Scripture rules in buying: then first take heed that you do not discommend those Commodities that are very good, which you are about to buy, that so you may bring down the price of the Commodity, and get it for less then it is worth: there is a known place of Scripture for this in Prov. 20. 14. It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer; but when he is gone his way, then he boasteth. People in Solomons time they were so wicked, that when they came to market to buy any thing, the buyer he would discommend the Commodity, & say, it was naught, though it were very good and saleable; but when the seller was gone, then he would boast of what a good penyworth he had bought, and the like.
2. Do not make vows and protestations, that you will give no more for a Commodity, then what you have first offered, when afterwards you will give more. This is a very common thing with Trades-men; you shall have a man come to a shop, and cheapen a Commodity, and the buyer he will say, he will not give a farthing more, and the seller will say, he will not take a farthing less, and yet both the buyer gives more, and the seller takes less; now this is no other then a palpable and downright lye.
3. Do not give counterfeit mony for those Commodities you buy: this you have an example of in Abraham, when he was to buy the field in Mackpelah of Ephron the Hittite, for a burying place, in Gen. 23. 16. saith Abraham, I will give thee four hundred shekles of silver, currant money with the Merchant; And therefore you transgress Scriptures rules if you know you have brass mony, or counterfeit gold about you, and yet pay it away for Cōmodities; you sin in doing so, though you your self took it for Cōmodities.
4. Do not give for a commodity less then in your conscience you think it is worth; it is an oppression in buying, when you seek to bring a Commodity under its due value and worth. Abraham when he was to buy the Cave in Mackpelah of Ephron, saith he, I will give thee the worth of it in mony: and so David when he was to buy the threshing-floor of Araunah the Iebusite, 2 Sam. 24. 24. saith he, I will buy it of thee at the full value of it.
5. Do not long deferre the paying for those Cōmodities which you have bought, when thou hast by thee wherewithall to pay it: there is an excellent place for this in Prov. 3. 27, 28. Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thy hand to do it: say not unto thy neighbour, go, and come again, and to morrow I will give, when thou hast it by thee. This Text is referred to works of mercy, but it hath relation to buying and selling, and trading in the world: if you owe a man mony for a Commodity, you ought to pay him, and not to let him come day after day for it, and go without it, when you have it by you. 2 Kings 4. 7. it is the badge of a wicked man in Scripture, not to pay his debts, in Psalm 37. 21. The wicked borroweth and payeth not again.
6 Do not engross a Cōmodity, that is, do not buy all of a Commodity into your own hands alone, that by that means you may sell the commodity at your own price; this is a meer oppression, destructive to a Commonwealth, and to all trading; the Scripture condemns this in Prov. 11. 6. it is spoken there of Corn mungers; saith the [...]ext, He that with-holdeth corn, the people shall [...]urse him, but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it. In Solomons time there were cornmungers that when corn was cheap would go & buy up all the corn in the countrey, and would keep it up and sell none till corn was very dear; now saith the Text, He that doth thus, the people shall curse him for it, but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it. Now it is no sin in its self to engross a commodity, thereby to sell it the cheaper, but for a man to engross a commodity, meerly thereby to advance the price of it, this is such an oppression, that the people shall curse him for it.
7. Do not in your buying a commodity take any advantage of the mistake or oversight of the seller; as suppose you should come to a shop and buy so many yards of cloth, or the like, and he should give thee more then is thy due, or take less mony of thee then is his due, you should take no advantage of him in such a case, but restore it again: for if you take any thing more from him then you bought of him, it is theft; or if you give any lesse for the commodity then you bargained for, it is theft: there is an excellent place for this in Gen. 43. 12. Iacob when there was a famine in the Land, he sent his sons down into Aegypt to buy corne, and Ioseph he knowing his brethren, filled their sacks with corn, and put the mony which they brought for the corne, in the mouth of the sack againe; and when they came home and found their mony in the mouth of their sacks, they told their father Jacob of it; then saith he to them, Goe back againe, and take double money in your hand, and the money that was brought againe in the mouth of your sacks, carry it againe in your hands, for peradventure it was an oversight: here was a conscienciousnesse in Iacob.
8. Do not buy any commodities on the Lords day; it is true, upon urgent occasions to maintaine life either in man, or beast, this is lawfull; but to buy any thing, that you may well be without till monday, in this case you sin if you buy any thing on the Lords day; in Neh. 10. 31. and Nehemiah entred into an oath, and the people with him, that if any of the people of the land brought wares, or any victuals to sell on the Sabboth day, that they would not buy it of them; and as the law did not give them leave to breake the Jewish Sabboth, so neither doth the Gospell give us leave to break the Christian Sabboth; and therefore I cannot see but that it is a sin, for men to buy either wine or beer, or pepper or mustard, or any other trivial things (which they may well be without) on the Sabboth day.
9. Do not in buying a commodity, work upon the necessity of a poor man, that hath need of money; this is a great sin in Tradesmen; they know that a poor man wants money, and he must sell off his ware, orelse he cannot buy bread for his familie, and therefore he will worke upon his necessity, and will not buy the commodity of him, unlesse they will sell it cheaper then then they can afford it; now this is a great oppression; in the 25 of Levit. 14. If thou buyest any thing of thy neighbour, or sellest any thing to thy neghbour, thou must not use oppression. There is an oppression in buying as well as in selling; it is a great oppression for rich men, to work upon the necessity of a poor man, to make him sell cheaper then he can afford, or else to buy nothing at all of him.
10. Do not buy those things that are not fit to be bought and sold: as first, Doe not buy stollen goods, they are not fit to be bought; if thou knowest that the goods that are to be bought, are stollen goods, they are not to be bought, but to be restored; as the receiver is as bad as the theif, so the buyer is as bad as the theif: Secondly, doe not buy monuments of Idolatry, for they are not fit to be bought, as Crosses, Beads, and Images, and Crucifixes, and the like: Thirdly, Doe not buy men for slaves; this the Lord reproves in Amos 2. 16. They sould the righteous for silver; and the poor for a paire of shooes; and so in the of 27. Deut. Thou shalt not steal thy Brother, and make merchandise of him: we should therefore take heed least we split our soules upon any of these rocks, and let us labour, that among all our buyings, we buy that which Christ bids us buy; in Esay 55. 1. Ho, every one that thirsteth, come you unto the waters, and he that hath no money, come, buy and eat, yea, come buy wine and milke without money, and without price.
Rules concerning Selling Commodities.
1. IF you would not transgresse Scripture rules in selling cōmodities; then in the first place do not multiply words in selling; the Scripture affords many examples for this, as in Gen. 23. 15. Abraham, as I told you before, when he was to buy the cave of Machpela, of Ephron, he told him that it was worth four hundred shekels of silver, and Abraham presently gave him so much currant monie with the Merchant: And so God himselfe takes upon him to be a seller, in Zach. 11. 12. If you thinke good, saith God, give me my price; if not, forbear; multiplicity of words is needlesse; In a multitude of words (saith Solomon) there is sin, men should not lavish and frolick in a shop.
2. Do not commend & overpraise a commodity, when you know in your conscience, that there is a fault in it; this is a vicious carriage in the seller, when he shall use abundance of fine words to set out a commodity when it is not good. As the buyer should not discommend a commodity when it is good; so should not the seller over-praise and commend a commodity, when it is nought.
3. Do not sell thy commodities by false weights, nor by false measures; do not keep a deceitfull ballance, or a deceitfull measure; this is condemned in Amos 8. 5. They make the Ephah small, and the Shekel great, and falsifie the ballances by deceit, and so in the 20. of Prov. 10. Divers weights, and divers measures, both of them are alike an abomination unto the Lord. Now this is spoken, not that the weights and measures in themselves, are an abomination to the Lord, but onely those men that do use, and keep, and sell by those weights, and measures; and therefore the Lord gave a speciall law for this, to all that did follow trades in Israel, in Deut. 25. 14, 15. saith God there, Thou shalt not have in thy house divers measures, a great and a small, that is, a great measure to buy by, & a smal one to sel by; Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small, but thou shalt have a perfect and a just weight, and a perfect and a just measure, shalt thou have, that thy dayes may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee; and so in Mic. 6. 10. Is there yet, saith God, the treasures of wickednesse in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure, which is an abomination unto the Lord?
4. You are to make conscience in selling a commodity, not only that you do not speak falsly, but also that you do not speak in an equivocating manner: It is an observation that Luther hath upon these words, Let no man defraud his Brother, saith he, there are many Shop-keepers, that will not lye, but they will equivocate very much; you shall have a tradesman that to sell off a commodity, he will get a partner with him, and he shall offer him so much for a commodity, and then he will tel the next man that comes for that commodity, that there was one offered him so much for it but even now; and then they will say likewise, it cost me so much, when it may be they had other things with it of a greater value and price, and it may be they had a great deale of time given them to pay for it, whereas the buyer payes ready money; and many other equivocating words they use, which is as bad as lying.
5. In selling a commodity doe not work upon the ignorance or simplicity of the man that comes to buy the commodity; but if you discerne him to be unskilfull, rather use him the berter, then the worse; in Zepha. 1. 9. says God there. In the same day also will I punish all those young men, that leap in the threshold, which fill their masters houses with violence and deceit; and so in 1 Thes. 46. Let no man (saies the Apostle) goe beyond or defraud his Brother in any matter, for the Lord is the avenger of all such; and so in 2 Pet. 2. 3. And through coveteousnesse shall they with fained words make merchandise of you, whose judgement lingreth not. When men shall worke upon the ignorance of the buyer, and so advance the price of the commodity, this is a great sin.
6. Do not imbase a commodity from its primitive worth and goodnesse, and yet sell it at the full price, as if it were good, thereby to get the more by it: this the Scripture condemns in Amos 8. 6. They sell the refuse of the wheat: the corne-mungers, in those times they would pick out the best of their wheat, and yet sell the worst at the full price of the best: now this the Lord condemns; and so in Esay 1. 22. They mingle wine with water, and drosse with silver: the Scripture condemns this, to imbase a commodity from its primitive goodnesse, and yet to sell it at the full value of the best.
7. Be not among the first that shall raise the price of a commodity; this I hinted to you before in Prov. 11. 26. He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him; but blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it.
8. Be not so eager in selling of your commodities, that you cannot content your selves to sel on the six dayes of the week, but you must sell on the Sabboth day likewise; be not like those in Amos 8. 5. saying, When will the new moon be over, that we may sell corne, and the Sabboth be over, that we may set forth wheat? and so in Neh. 13. 15. In those dayes, saith the Prophet, saw I in Iudah, some treading wine-presses on the Sabboth, and bringing in sheaves, and lading Asses, and all manner of burthens, which they brought into Ierusalem on the Sabboth, and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals. Now this is against your common selling houses, and shops of mean trades, that sell by retaile, that make nothing of selling small crifling things on the Sabboth day; but this is a great sin.
9. When you are found out to be deceitful in your dealing, doe not justifie your deceit; many men, if you come to them, and tell them, that they sell dearer then their neighbors, they wil tel you, that they doe not; or if you tell them that the commodity is not good which you bought of them, they will say, it is as good as they can afford for the price, and the like; this is condemned in Ephraim, in Hosea 12. 7. Ephraim is a Merchant, the ballances of deceit are in his hand, he loves to oppresse, and yet he saith, I am become rich, and I have found me out substance, and in all my labours they shall finde no iniquity in me, that is sin; you should not justifie your deceit.
10. Do not sell those things that are not saleable; as first, do not sell spirituall things, for they are not saleable, as in Act. 8. 20. Simon Magus when he would have bought the gift of the Holy Ghost with mony, saith Peter to him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou thoughest that the gift of God might be purchased with mony. Secondly, doe not sell monuments of Idolatry as Crosses, and Beads, and Images, and Crucifixes, and Conjuring Books, and the like; they are not fitto be sold, as in Act. 19. 19. Many also of them that used curions arts, brought their books together, and burned them before all men, and they counted the price of them, and found it to be 50000 pieces of silver; this is spoken here of Conjuring books; and notwithstanding they were of so great a value, they would not sell them, but burned them. Thirdly, Doe not sell thy selfe as Ahab did, to worke wickednesse; for you are not your own▪ but Gods; and therefore you must glorifie God in your bodies, and in your soules, which are God's. Fourthly, You must not sell stollen goods. Fifthly, You must not sell those things that are for no other use, but for to commit sin in the using of them; as for to sell stuffe to paint Harlots faces, is a sin, because it is for no other use but to commit sin in the using of it.
London, Printed for John Rothwell, at the Sun & Fountain in St. Paul's Church-yard. 1653.