A GODLY DISCIPLINE	223
or persuade some one else to do so. In no case may a
man doctor his wares in order to get for them a higher
price than they are really worth, and in no case may he
conceal any defects of quality ; if he was so unlucky
as to have bought an inferior article, he " may not
repair [his] loss by doing as [he] was done by, ... no
more than [he] may cut another's purse because [his]
was cut/' Rivalry in trade, Baxter thinks, is inevit-
able. But the Christian must not snatch a good bargain
" out of greedy covetousness, nor to the injury of the
poor . . . nor ... so as to disturb that due and civil
order which should be among moderate men in trading.^1'
On the contrary, if ^M a covetous oppressor "offer a
poor man less than his goods are worth, " it may be a
duty to offer the poor man the worth of his commodity
and save him from the oppressor,"
The principles which should determine the contract
between buyer and seller are applied equally to all
other economic relations. Usury, in the sense of pay-
ment for a loan, is not in itself unlawful for Christians.
But it becomes so, when the lender does not allow the
borrower " such a proportion of the gain as his labour,
hazard, or poverty doth require, but ... will live at
ease upon his labours ^lf; or when, in spite of the bor-
rower's misfortune, he rigorously exacts his pound of
flesh ; or when interest is demanded for a loan which
charity would require to be free. Masters must dis-
cipline their servants for their good ; but it is " an
odious oppression and injustice to defraud a servant or
labourer of his wages, yea, or to give him less than he
deserveth." As the descendant of a family of yeomen,
^11 free,^11 as he says, " from the temptations of poverty
and riches," ^S2 Baxter had naturally strong views as
to the ethics of landowning. Significantly enough, he
deals with them under the general rubric of " Cases of
oppression, especially of tenants," oppression being
defined as the " injuring of inferiors who are unable to
resist or to right themselves." " It is too common a