Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	body_n	sin_n	soul_n	4,646	5	5.4196	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A20736	Lectures on the XV. Psalme read in the cathedrall church of S. Paule, in London. Wherein besides many other very profitable and necessarie matters, the question of vsurie is plainely and fully decided. By George Dovvname, Doctor of Diuinitie. Whereunto are annexed two other treatises of the same authour, the one of fasting, the other of prayer.	Downame, George, d. 1634.	1604 (1604)	STC 7118; ESTC S110203	278,690	369

the Lord hath ordained the judgement seat to be a rocke of defence and refuge for the innocent and guiltlesse they haue made it an hill of robbers Thirdly because they haue not onely set judgement and justice to sale which is an abhominable practise but also as the Prophet Amos speaketh They sell the righteous for siluer and the poore for a paire of shoes Such judges Demosthenes compared to a paire of scoles which alwaies incline on that side whence they haue receiued any thing And surely a small weight many times will make them to incline to the wicked who seeketh to corrupt them and to decline from right Prou. 28. 21 To haue respect of persons it is not good for that man will transgresse for a piece of bread It were therefore to be wished that justice and judges now adaies were such as they were wont to be painted for justice was blindfolded and judges were pictured without hands whereby was signified that judges should not receiue rewards nor respect persons which is commonly a consequent of rewards Vpon the greatnesse of this offence followeth the third thing namely that is is pernicious to them that vse it for therefore doth the holy ghost denounce a feareful woe against such persons Esay 5. 23. Woe be to them which iusti●ie the wicked for a reward and take away the righteousnesse of the righteous from him therefore as the flame of fire deuoureth the stubble and as the chaffe is consumed of the flame so their root shall be as rottenness c. But it is onely pernicious to themselues but also to the countrey wherein they liue as I haue in generall shewed Ezek. 22. 12. and thereunto wee may adde the testimonie of the Prophet Micah chap. 3. 11 12. for when as hee had said that the heads or princes of Ierusalem did judge for rewards and the priests did teach for hire he inferreth Therefore shall Sion for your sake be ploughed as a field and Ierusalem shall be an ●eape and the mountaine of the house as the high places of the forrest I come to corrupt lawyers and aduocats who so often take reward against the innocent as they doe take vpon them the defence of such causes as they in their owne conscience are persuaded to be euill and vnjust Which being so common a fault among lawyers as that very few which plead causes either in ciuile or ecclesiasticall courts doe seeme to make any conscience thereof to whom all is fish that commeth to their nets therefore all lawyers are to be exhorted to apply this note vnto themselues For if those which shall be saued are such as doe not take a reward against the innocent as the holy ghost here witnesseth how then can they be saued whose vsuall practise is to take rewards against the innocent And that they may the more effectually be dissuaded from this sinne let them a little consider with me how fearefully they sinne against God their neighbour and themselues Against God whiles they seeke to ouerthrow the truth and to peruert the Judgement which is the Lords Secondly against their neighbour And in this regard euery corrupt lawyer is as Salomon sayth of euery false witnesse an hammer a sword and a sharpe ●rrow an hammer or mallet to the judge a sword to his client and an arrow to his adursarie For whiles our lawyers doe their indeuours as the Greeke sophisters were wont 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to make the worse cause the better they doe as it were knocke the judge on the head amasing him so and dazeling his eyes that he may not see and pronounce the truth To their client they are as two edged swords wounding him two wayes to wit in body and soule As touching his bodie and outward estate they notably impouerish him to enrich themselues and plucke off his feathers to feather their owne nest for as the fowlers ●age is full of birds so the houses of these faulconers are full of riches gotten by deceit as Ieremie speaketh The soule also of their client they wou●d when they animate him to goe on in offering wrong to his neighbour and cause him to sinne against his owne soule To the aduersarie being indeed the innocent partie euery Tertullus is a sharpe arrow wounding him either in bodie goods or good name against all or any whereof they care not what vntruths and slaunderous calumniations they vtter so their cause may therby be aduantaged Lastly they sinne against themselues and their owne soules first because they aid the wicked vnto euill which is forbidden Exod. 23. 1. and is reprooued 2. Chron. 19. 2 as also Psal. 50. 18. When thou sawest a theefe thou consentedst vnto him and is condemned Rom. 1. 31. Secondly because they haue sold their tongues to speake likes for an euill cause cannot be maintained but by manifold vntruths Now riches or treasures gotten by a deceitfull or lying tongue is vanitie tossed too and fro of them that seeke death Prou. 21. 6. And therefore it is greatly to be feared least these men as they haue set their tongues so also their ●oules to sale for that is truly affirmed of all couetous persons Eccles. 10. 9. The like is to be said of euery false witnesse who for reward is suborned to testifie vntruths That hee sinneth against God whose judgement he seeketh to peruert against the judge whom he endeuoureth to auert from justice and truth against the parties who suborneth him to whom he consenteth vnto euill against the innocent partie whom by his false testimonie he hurteth and sometimes killeth him with a word against his owne soule for seeing a false witnesse is an abbomination vnto the Lord Prou. 6. 18 therefore he shall not escape but surely perish Prou. 19. 5. 9. And yet this is not all that may be said in detestation of false witnesse bearing For seeing witnesses in places of judgement doe not deliuer their testimonies but vpon an oath therefore euery false witnesse is guiltie not onely of false witnesse bearing but also of perjurie whereby he polluteth the holy name of God wrongeth the innocent abuseth the judge and all that are present and that vnder the religion of an oath hee citeth the Lord himselfe and that in the place of judgement to testifie an vntruth and which is most fearfull he tempteth the Lord and as it were dareth him in the audience of allthat are present to execute his fierce wrath and indignation vpon him For in othes wee call vpon God not onely to be our witnesse that we sweare truly but also to be a reuenger of vs if we sweare falsely therefore he which sweareth that which he knoweth to be vntrue he prouoketh the Lord and as it were dareth him to take vengeance vpon him Thus then we see by these two last notes what the sound Christian and citizen of heauen doth not to wit that neither priuatly in contracts nor publickely in place of

not onely the translation of their goods from them in this world Prou. 28. 8 but also as touching the world to come that they shall not dwell in the mountaine of Gods holinesse as may be gathered out of this Psalme but that they shall die the death meaning thereby the death of the soule and that you may know to whom the cause of the vsurers damnation is to be imputed it is added and his bloud shall be vpon him And that is it which Leo sayth Foenus pecuniae funus est animae The gaine of vsurie is the graue of the soule Wherefore what extreame folly and desperat madnesse is this for the vsurie that is as it were the tenths of thine owne money to cast away thy soule which thou oughtest not to hazard for the gaine of the whole world For as our Sauior sayth What will it profit a man though he should gaine the whole world if he loose his owne soule Mar. 8. 36. To these arguments I might adde if it were needfull the testimonies of all wise and learned men who haue liued vntill our age for first the Philosophers though heathens haue written and spoken against it the fathers of the church haue with one consent condemned it euen to the pit of hell the Christian councels haue seuerely censured it the schoolemen though corrupt in many other things yet herein they retaine the doctrine of the primitiue Church the godly learned diuines of this age and namely of this our Church doe for the most part inueigh against it those few among vs that seeme to defend ●surie doe in substance differ little from the rest erring especially in this that vnder the odious name of vsurie they defend and maintaine a lawfull contract of partnership as I haue shewed before And because the judgements of those learned men who seeme not to condemne all vsurie are of such force with vsurers that they seeme to build their practise vpon their authoritie I will also take this hold from them and out of their writings manifestly demonstrate before their eies that the vsurie which is practised in the world is not allowed of any godly diuine For first though they thinke a man may now and then lend vpon vsurie such cautions obserued as they prescribe yet they hold it to be vtterly vnlawfull for a man to be an vsurer or to make a trade of it Now whereas they doe not denie but that a man may make a trade of gaining by any honest or lawfull contract this euidently sheweth that euen out of their assertions it may be prooued that vsurie is not a lawfull contract Quisquis ex professo foeneratur sayth Caluin ille omnino debet ab hominum consortio reijci Whosoeuer is a professed vsurer he ought to be excluded out of all humane societie And againe an vsurer ought not to be suffered in the Church of God Secondly they absolutly condemne vsurie of vsurie which in it selfe is no more vnlawfull than vsurie of the principall Vsura vsurarum iudicio bonorum omnium etiam apud infideles damnata semper infamis fuit Iun. in Leuit. The conditions whereby they circumscribe vsurie are these and such like As first That it be not required of them who being in want doe borrow for the supply of their necessitie but onely of those who borrow mony to make a gaine thereof And that their lending to such doe not hinder them from free lending to those which would borrow for need 2. That they require not gaine of him which borroweth for gaine vnlesse he be a gainer And therefore they define that vsurie which they allow to be part of the borrowers gaine and but such a part as the borrower may liue of the rest 3. That he which lendeth for gaine must not onely require no gaine but also must be content to beare part of the borrowers losse if without his owne default he prooue a looser 4. That the end of this lending must bee charitie wherby the lender is bound to seeke the borrowers good rather than his owne 5. That in this contract he respect the good not only of the borrower but also of the commonwealth and therefore that he require not so much gaine as the partie cannot raise by lawfull meanes 6. That this lending be agreeable to naturall equity which is to be judged of not by mens practise but by the word of God 7. That it be contained within those limits which the laws of euery countrey concerning vsurie do appoint These cautions men must obserue or else they may not build their practise vpon the authoritie of godly learned men who haue by these and such like conditions so qualified vsurie as that where they be obserued there is no vsurie or at least no actuall vsurie committed And because the authoritie of that excellent instrument of God I. Caluin is much pretended for the defence of vsurie I will therefore shew you briefely how little encouragement vsurers can truly receiue from him He sayth it is more than a rare thing that the same man shold be an vsurer and an honest man Nay he sayth That an vsurer is euer a theefe and a robber and although hee sayth it may happen sometimes that a man may in some case take vsurie and cannot precisely bee condemned therefore yet he setteth downe this assertion But we must alwayes hold it to be a thing scarcely possible that he which taketh vsurie should not wrong his brother And therefore it were to be wished that the very name of vsurie were buried and vtterly blotted out of the memorie of men And in another place It were to be wished sayth he that all vsurie yea and the name of it were banished out of the world Hauing thus by testimonies of scripture and by other arguments and testimonies prooued vsurie to be vnlawfull it now remaineth that for the better satisfying of the reader I should answere such arguments as are made in defence of vsurie But that you may not thinke that the patrons of vsurie doe promiscuously defend all vsurie therefore they circumscribe that vsurie which they allow with these conditions first That it be moderat secondly That it be not required of the poore and needie thirdly That it be not hurtfull to the borrower Where by the way we are to obserue that no man of vnderstanding goeth about to justifie that vsurie which is commonly practised in the world in which being immoderat for the most part though it be but after ten in the hundred there is seldome or neuer any thing else looked after but the lenders securitie without respect whether the borrower be wealthie or needie or whether he shall gaine or loose thereby But let vs examine these three conditions seuerally for as touching the first whereas I haue prooued before that euery ouerplus or gaine required for loane is that vsurie which is condemned in the Scriptures and that it is a thing in it selfe simply euill

of the aforesaid English Treatise vnderstandeth thus That they should not in taking vsurie exceed the centefima that is twelue in the hundred as if Iohn had approoued vsurie so it exceeded not that rate I answere That the Publicans who came to Iohn were not Romanes of the worshipfull order of knights or other Gentiles but certaine of the Iews who being called soc●● publicanorum the Publicanes associats as Beza rightly judgeth were hired by the Romane Publicanes to helpe and assist them in gathering the customes tolls tributes and reuenewes which were due in Iurie being a prouince to the citie of Rome for which cause though they practised not vsurie these Publicanes being Iewes were hated and detested of the other Iews and esteemed as most notorious sinners insomuch that they might not enter into their assemblies both because they associated themselues vnto Gentiles and also assisted them in a businesse most odious to them viz. in exacting tributes and tolls from them being a free people These Publicans therefore being in this common disgrace and comming to Iohn Baptist to be baptized propound this question to him Whether it were lawfull for them to exact the tributes in behalfe of the Romanes or if it be how they were to demeane themselues and to that purpose aske him What shall we doe Vnto which question Iohn answereth thus Require or exact no more than is appointed for you Which answere most plainely concerneth their dutie in exacting of tributes tolls and customes that they should extort no more than was due as the Publicans by forged cauillations many times did Vnto these testimonies the same authour addeth two more Mar. 4. 25 To him that hath it shall be giuen and Act. 20. 35 It is a more blessed thing to giue than to receiue but I will not trouble the reader with them And these are their allegations out of the Scripture Now I desire euery Christian in the feare of God and without partialitie to compare these allegations which haue beene made for vsurie with those testimonies of Scripture which before I produced against it namely with that one Ezek. 18. 13 He that lendeth vpon vsurie or taketh increase shall he liue saith the Lord he shall not liue but he shall die the death and his blood shall be vpon him And let him vprightly consider to which part he ought rather to incline For this may not be denied but that if vsurie may be lawfully practised it is to be done in faith that is in a sound persuasion out of the word of God that it is lawfull But whereupon shall this found persuasion be grounded On a few far-fetched allegations drawne into the defence of vsurie perforce contradicted with such manifest testimonies of scripture and confuted by most euident arguments But it may be though their allegations out of scripture be weake yet their reasons are strong Though they were neuer so strong yet ought we rather to denie our owne reason than not to yeeld simple and absolute obedience to the word of God But let vs examine their strength And first that vsurie so qualified as I said before is not vnlawfull they prooue first by the name thereof For say they Although the name vsurie in English tongue be odious through the abuse of the ignorant yet in the learned tongues it is of a middle and indifferent nature Answ. By the learned tongues are commonly vnderstood the Hebrew Greeke and Latine the first and ordinarie name of vsurie in Hebrew is Neshek in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine foenus Neshek signifieth biting and is deriued from the same verbe which oftentimes in the scripture is ascribed to the biting of serpents 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is deriued either of the Hebrew Toc which signifieth deceit and by the Grecians is translated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal. 55. 13 72. 14. as also Isb Tecachim Prou. 29. 13. The man of deceit is commonly vnderstood to be the vsurer and so by diuerse is translated Or else of the verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signifie as the Philosopher rightly noted that vsurie is a monstrous and vnnaturall contract whereby money and other things which naturally do not fructifie nor haue no fruitfull vse but are spent in the vse are made against nature to fructifie and to bring forth gaine For which cause Ch●ysosiome calleth vsurie a pestiferous wombe Others giue this reason of the Greeke name that vsurie is called Tokos because it breedeth griefe to the borrower or as Ambrose sayth because it worketh in the borrowers soule griefes answerable to the paines of childbirth In Latine it is called foenus either quasi foetus as Nonius Marcellus and others haue taught by the same reason that it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke because it is as it were the monstrous and vnnaturall brood of that which is borrowed or else it is named foenus quasi funus for in many Latine words u is changed into oe dipthong as in Pomoerium for Pomurium and Moenia a muniendo because it is the graue of the borrowers state and of the lenders soule Wherefore Ambrose sayth Nihil interest inter foenus funus And Leo sayth Foenus pecuniae sunus animae The other words viz. Tarbith and Marbith in Hebrew signifying increase and vsura in Latin were as Caluin faith deuised by vsurers themselues when as the odious names of Neshek and foenus did seeme to make their practise odious And therefore disclaiming Neshek and foenus they professed themselues to take Tarbith and vsura euen as vsurers among vs and the French refusing the name vsurie as growne odious haue deuised the names of interest vse and vsance But for as much as the vsurers among the Iewes vnder the name Tarbith exercised Neshek among the Romans vnder the name vsura practised foenus euen as the vsurers among the French as Caluin sayth and also among vs vnder the names of interest vse vsance practise plaine vsurie therefore the words Tarbith and Marbith are euery where taken in the ill sence and are forbidden as well as foenus and vsura among the latter Latine writers growne as odious as foenus Quid foenus Calendarium vsura sayth Seneca nisi humanae cupiditatis extra naturam quaesita nomina What is foenus and the Kalender for so the vsurers debt-booke was called and vsurie but names of mens couetousnesse sought out besides nature And therfore it is a wonder that any learned man should affirme that the name of vsurie in the learned tongues is of a middle and indifferent nature Wherefore from these premisses this first argument may be retorted vpon them which made it For if as the names of things be such commonly be the things for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sayth Aristotle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 names doe follow or imitate the things and Plato calleth names the similitudes and resemblances of things then odious and detestable names are