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cause_n	death_n	good_a	life_n	4,509	5	4.8259	4	true

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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

as being both profitable and necessary forts profitable First because by them we may make sure our calling and our election as Peter teacheth they being so many testimonies vnto vs thereof True indeed it is that we were elected without respect of workes and we are called by grace not according to workes we are justified by faith without workes and by grace we are saued through faith and not by workes But if a man would know whether he be elected called justified and shall be saued as we are bound to giue diligence that we may haue a firme knowledge of these things we are not to pry into the secret counsell of God but we are to examine our selues by our fruits for both we and others are to be discerned by our fruits As our Sauiour saith by their fruits you shall know them do men gather grapes of thornes or ●igges of thistels a bad tree cannot bring forth good fruit By the fruits therefore of righteousnes we may euidently discerne our selues to be sanctified And none are sanctified but such as first are justified and whosoeuer are justified are effectually called and none are effectually called but such as are elected and none are elected but such as shall be saued To this purpose Iames sheweth that the faith whereby we are justified must be demonstrated by good workes And Iohn affirmeth that by the the loue of our brethren which is all one in effect with righteousnesse we know that we are translated from death vnto life Againe good workes are profitable because they haue the promises both of this life and of that which is to come They are also necessary not as the causes of our justification and saluation as though we were either justified by them or saued for them but as necessary fruits of faith and testimonies of our justification according whereunto the sentence of saluation shall be pronounced for although vnto the act of justification good workes do not concurre as any causes thereof yet in the subject that is the partie justified they concurre as fruits of our faith and consequents of our justification For as breathing is such a fruit or consequent of life as where that is we judge the body to liue where that is not we judge it to be dead so is the exercise of righteousnesse and performance of good workes such a consequent of faith as that where good workes are the faith is liuely where they are not at all the faith is dead They are necessary also in respect of saluation not as the causes thereof but partly as the way for we are his vvorkmanship created vnto good workes which he hath prepared for vs to walke in them and therefore they are fitly sayd to be Vni regum non causa regnandi The way to the kingdome not the cause of reigning and partly as the euidence according vnto which the Lord proceedeth in judgement to the sentence of saluation Come you blessed of my father sayth Christ the judge inherit you the kingdome prepared for you from the foundations of the world For I was an hungrie and you gaue me meat I thirsted and you gaue me drinke c. It is most certaine that Christ our Sauiour by his obedience hath merited and purchased eternall life for all those that beleeue in him according to the maine promise of the Gospell that whosoeuer beleeueth in him shall be saued By that righteousnes and obedience of Christ apprehended by faith not by or for any righteousnes inherent in vs or obedience performed by vs are we made sonnes heires of God entituled vnto the kingdome of heauen acquitted from our sinnes and accepted vnto eternall life Notwithstanding seeing all that be in the Church professe themselues to beleeue whereof many deceiue either themselues with an opinion or others with a profession of faith therefore the Lord proceedeth vnto judgement according to the fruits either of faith or infidelity taking for granted that in those who are members of the true visible Church where good workes are there is faith and where are no good workes there is no faith And therefore it behoueth vs as we desire either to haue assurance of our saluation whiles we liue here or to heare the comfortable sentence of saluation pronounced to vs in the day of judgement so to be carefull to demonstrat our faith by good workes And hereby it appeareth against the malicious slaunder of the Papists that although we deny good workes to be meritorious of euerlasting life yet we do not teach men to cast off all care and well doing Now for the auoiding of errour Whereas the workes of righteousnesse are made a proper note of the sons and heires of God we are first to restraine this part of the Lords answer to that subject whereof Dauids question is propounded namely to those who liue in the true visible Church and professe the name and religion of God Of these because there be many hypocrites and vnsound professors among them Dauid desireth to be informed who are the true professors The Lord answereth He that worketh righteousnesse and so by his good workes doth demonstrat his faith There are many workes materially good to be found not onely among heretickes and idolatours as the Papists but also among Turkes and Pagans But we speake not of those that are without for they are not within the compasse either of Dauids question or Gods answer And secondly we are to know that all works in respect of the matter or the thing done seeme to be good workes are not straightwayes the workes of righteousnesse neither doth he which performeth them alwayes worke righteousnesse For it is not a good and a true worke of righteousnesse indeed vnlesse it proceed from the right fountaine vnlesse it be done in a right maner and to a right end As touching the fountaine it is a good rule of Gregory That the streames of righteousnes towards our brother must be deriued from the fountaine of pietie towards God For we loue not our brother aright vnlesse we loue him in and for the Lord and we cannot loue him in and for the Lord vnlesse we loue the Lord much more and we loue the Lord because we are by faith persuaded that he loueth vs first his loue being shed abroad in our hearts by the holy Ghost and we cannot beleeue in God and Christ our Sauiour vnlesse we know God aright and vnderstand the mysterie of our saluation by Christ. If therefore we be ignorant persons we haue no faith if we be vnfaithfull persons we haue no true loue or feare of God nor any other sanctifying grace If we haue no true loue of God we haue no true loue of our brother For euen as the loue of God seuered from the loue of our neighbour is hypocrisie so is the loue of our neighbor seuered from the loue of God counterfeit The good workes therefore that are done either by an ignorant

not commaund diuorces for so he should haue bene contrarie to himselfe but to such as could not bee got to retaine their wiues hee commaunded them to giue their wiues a bill of diuorcement that prouision might be made for them against their husbands crueltie and yet for all that they which put away their wiues ceassed not to be adulterers before God So say I againe The lawes of men do not commaund nor allow vsurie For so should they be contrarie to the lawes of God and yet to them who cannot be got to lend freely they permit to lend vpon vsurie so as they do not exceed such a stint that prouision might be made for men that be in need both that they might borrow and also that when they must needs borrow they should not be too much oppre●●ed And yet for all this as he was an adulterer that put away his wife vnlesse it were for the crime of adulterie as our Sauior there proueth so is he guiltie of theft before God who practiseth vsurie though it be permitted by men But as I sayd our law doth not permit vsury as men commonly imagine but is as well contriued considering the iniquitie of the times as could almost be wished Onely these two things I desire may be now considered of in parliament First whether it were not more behoofefull for the common weale if vsurie were stinted at six rather than at ten in the hundred or rather that all vsurie being forbidden men should be allowed to vse in steed thereof the contract of redemption in that manner which before I approued buying a rent after fiue as in Germanie or because of our greater vse of money in traffique by reason of our more commodious nauigation after six in the hundred or more if more be thought more equall with a couenant of redemption in the behalfe of the borrower or rather seller if he desire it For first it may seeme vnreasonable that wheras of an hundred pounds worth of land which is fruitfull by nature a man can hardly raise a rent of fiue or six pounds a yeare an hundred pounds in money which hath in it selfe no fruitfull vse should without his paines cost or hazard yeeld him ten pounds a yeare Secondly it would in mine opinion be a notable meanes to diminish the number of vsurers and also to ease both the borrowers in particuler of oppression and the common wealth in generall of that great burden of vsurie whereof I spake before And thirdly it would be a meanes to preuent both the vsuall committing of this sinne and also the punishment which God hath threatned for the same The second thing which I desire may be considered of is the permission of vsurie in the behalfe of orphanes For if it be simply euill it cannot bee good in them neither can the respect had of them make it good in others And it is a principle in Diuinitie Euill may not be done that good may come thereof Augustine giueth this charge which afterwards was placed among the canons of the law That men should not lend vpon vsurie though they would giue that which is gotten by vsurie as almes to the poore And Chrysostome when some made this excuse I lent indeed vpon vsurie but that which I gained thereby I gaue to the poore he sayth plainely that God doth not accept such sacrifices and addeth that it were better not to giue to the poore than so to giue It is a good rule in the Canon law if one cannot be relieued without another be hurt it were better neither should be holpen than either wronged Charitie as it rejoyceth in the truth so also in justice and therefore whatsoeuer is vnjust and against the law of God it cannot be charitable Neither doth charitie require that I should sinne to do another man good or to cast away my soule by sinne though it were to saue another mans life For he that shall be saued doth not put forth his money to vsurie and he that doth shall he liue saith the Lord he shall not liue but he shal die the death Wherefore vsurie being simply euill and generally forbidden in the word of God it cannot in any case be exercised with a good conscience You will say then What shall become of Orphanes if they may not be maintained with the increase of their stocke but be forced to liue vpon their stocke and so to spend it Answer You might better aske what shall become of those Orphanes who haue no stocke for whom notwithstanding the Lord doth graciously prouide according to his mercifull promises I answer therefore that orphanes and widowes haue a notable priuiledge of diuerse gracious promises peculiarly made to them Let them therfore or their friends for them depend vpon the gracious prouidence and promises of God in the vse of lawfull meanes Let them either imploy their goods in some honest trade or negotiation wherein they haue as good cause to expect a blessing from God as any other or let them deale by partnership or if other meanes faile let annuities be bought for their liues or lands or rents purchased for euer or let some other honest course be tataken which wise men can easily deuise if they list how orphanes may be maintained without impairing of their stocke Againe if any man to make good the former objection concerning the profitablenesse of vsurie to common weales shall alledge as some haue done that the ciuile law alloweth thereof and doth not onely permit but authorise vsurie according to the rates aforesaid I answer that by the law it selfe it euidently appeareth that it doth not allow it as good but permit it as euill for the auoiding of greater inconueniences and permit it with a threefold restraint The first in respect of the quantitie for the law stinteth the merchants vsurie at eight the gentlemens and noblemens vsurie at foure and the vsury of other men at six in the hundred The second restraint is in respect of the continuance For the ciuile law prouideth that when the vsurie which in the continuance of the loane hath bene paid already doth amount to as great a summe as the principall it selfe that then it shall ceasse and whatsoeuer is paid afterwards should be reckoned in the principall As for example ten in the hundred do match the principall in ten yeares after which time no more vse is to be payd or if any be payd it is to be abated in the principall The third restraint is in respect of the compound vsurie which is called vsurie of vsurie for that is absolutely forbidden by the ciuile law Which two latter restraints doe also prooue that vsurie by the ciuile law is judged a thing euill in it selfe For if vsurie of ten in the hundred be lawfull for ten years together why not for the eleuenth and twelfth c. the principall being still forborne and if the vsurie of the principall be lawfull the

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