subscribe in iudgement and in practise to obey Albeit such a law cannot by euident consequence bee necessarily deriued from any law of God or reason yet if it doe not crosse or oppose the same it is sufficient As lawes which are apparantly friuolous containing matter of little moment need not much to trouble our consciences because there appeareth some opposition betweene them and the law of reason which teacheth vs that a law is a matter of maiestie and serious command and therefore the subiect of it ought to be answerably a matter of waight and moment as the matter of vsurie is Be it therfore proposed that those wholesome lawes and statutes which carrie no shew of opposition to a superiour law though they command or forbid such things as before were held indifferent yet euen as they are lawes doe they binde the conscience by vertue of Gods law 4. Which lawes thus enacted by humane authoritie be in force not onely before the Iudge to the vndergoing of temporall punishment but also to binde the conscience before God not by any power in themselues for they be but humane but as secondarie causes doe worke in the vertue of the first cause so doe these lawes worke vpon the conscience by vertue of his law who alone hath the soueraigne authoritie ouer the inward man He hath commanded vs to obey not because of wrath only not for penalties displeasure or outward respect only but for conscience sake Thus much I hope we shall be able to proue Whereupon it must of necessitie follow that admit euery act of vsurie were not simply in it selfe vnlawfull yet if it be simply forbidden by a law published as a thing perilous among Christians or preiudiciall to the common good then are wee bound in conscience to auoid euery vsurious act as malum prohibitum forbidden by a good and wholsome law Which law if we shall transgresse we doe sinne against God Let this therefore in the first place be propounded that such humane lawes as be not opposite vnto the law of God or nature haue a binding power howbeit not alwaies from the nature of the thing it selfe thereby commanded or forbidden but euen as they be lawes proceeding from that authoritie which is the ordinance of God Which that it may the better appeare it is obseruable that almightie God did first assume vnto himselfe that libertie and power of binding mens consciences meerely by his commanding authoritie as hee was a law-giuer Next that hee did impart the same though not in the same degree to his vicegerents vpon earth It was his diuine pleasure to manifest this power euen in the first law that euer was giuen for what hurt could there haue been in eating of the forbidden fruit if it had not bin forbidden why might not that tree haue been touched and tasted as well as the rest if there had not been an edict against it Abraham likewise after the fall was commanded to offer his sonne Isaac which commandement if it had not bin giuen Abraham could neuer haue found any motiue for such a sacrifice but much might he haue found against it in that law of nature which was written in his heart This degree of power God as the supreme lawgiuer hath reserued wholly vnto himselfe so as it shall not bee lawfull for any created power whatsoeuer to enact a law against the law of nature or to dispense with a diuine statute Yet notwithstanding in case it carrie no opposition to a superiour law God hath giuen a binding power euen to the commandement of man though not against yet without any obligatorie vertue in the thing commanded he adiudging in his diuine wisedome that this was the best for the establishing of authoritie amongst men for the keeping of men in obedience and euery way for the publique good For if men should not obey the lawes and commands of their superiours before such time as they saw something in the thing commanded which should exact the same at their hands verely the Centurion did not well in approuing his souldiers for comming going and doing this at a word yea masters had better a great deale goe about their businesse themselues then send many seruants and if this were our case all gouernment and humane affaires would be soone at a stand Wherefore God doth not only allow those lawes which doe enact that which is alrâ—â—â—â—…e enacted by his law or which may bee thence deriâ—â—â—… by necessarie consequence as a conclusion out of the premisses but all those determinations and particular constitutions which doe not crosse the law of God or nature are in his estimate accounted iust and to bee obeyed For as Christ in the Gospell said of those who did cast out diuels in his name He that is not against vs is with vs so may God rightly be conceiued to esteeme of all humane lawes made for the reformation of manners those which are not against him are with him and therefore by his law confirmed and made of force to binde the conscience This appeareth by the example of the Reahabites in their obedience to their father Ionadab the sonne of Rechab whom they obeyed not because the things forbidden were in themselues 〈◊〉 for houses vineyards and fields are the good blessings of God neither was it for feare of displeasure for Ionadab was dead three hundred yeeres before but only they thought themselues bound in conscience to obey their fathers commandement Which opinion of theirs was iustified and approued of God to be true and sound in that he did not only commend but reward their obedience Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel because ye haue obeyed the commandement of Ionadab your father and kept all his precepts and done according to all that he hath commanded you Ionadab the sonne of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for euer If a father then haue such command ouer his sonnes for so many generations as were betweene the daies of Iehu and the raigne of Iehoiakim how much more shall the lawes and statutes inacted by the gouernours of Common-weales and the bodie representatiue assembled for the publike good binde euery subiect to the obedience of the same But wee shall not neede to goe farre for an instance of this point Our law at home is a pregnant proofe that a law doth binde euen as it is a law though the thing thereby imposed be of it selfe most free and indifferent I speake of that Common or municipall law of our Countrie whose maxims are not meerely grounded vpon the axioms and principles of reason and common equitie but vpon the peculiar customes of this Countrie I demaund then whence this law hath a binding power Is it from the nature of the thing imposed doth it command or forbid nothing but that which out of the principles of nature and reason may by demonstration be proued to be good or bad in it selfe Verely then were it
of as great power beyond Douer as it is on this side for the law of nature and reason is euerie where alike But it is the custome of place and people which addeth power for euen a custome doth bind taking vpon it the nature of a law Ligat consuetudo quatenus interpretatiue lex est Be it custome then or be it a perfect law it must haue a greater power of binding euen as it is a custom or a law thē can alwaies be raised out of the nature of the thing accustomed or imposed For circumstances may so alter the matter as that which is imposed may be sometimes not so conuenient as in common intendment a good law doth presume Yet hath it been euer though more conuenient that some particular inconuenience should bee borne then an ancient custome or law should bee broken And if the binding power of a law should worke no further then the thing it selfe of it selfe doth moue the conscience without a law then were it no power at all but euery mans priuate conscience should haue power to abrogate and disanull as fast as authority doth inact A priuate power then must not abrogate that which is publicke Nihilagit vltra suam speciem but euery priuate man doth stand bound to a humane law vntill the same authoritie which bound him doe absolue him All things therfore considered it is a dangerous conceit to imagine that the power of humane lawes doth extend no further then the qualitie of the thing it selfe doth carie the conscience and so dangerous as if it should take palce it would violate that authority which is the ordinance of God and shake the very pillers of the earth § 2. 2 Then for the penaltie which maketh it a penall law I demand what power that hath to alter the premisses Is the vndergoing of such a penaltie an expiation of the sinne committed in transgressing the law God forbid The least sin deserueth a greater punishment then man can inflict Or hath it a power to dissolue that bond which by vertue of Gods law lieth vpon my conscience Or is it so incorporate into the law that it leaueth a free choice vnto men indifferently either to obserue such an act or to vndergoe such a penaltie Verily this is auerred but the contrarie seemeth vnto me very pregnant vpon these reasons following 1 First to make some way to that which followeth it is much to the preiudice and weakning of good lawes to giue such interpretations as doe dispence with the conscience and set that at libertie For if men be taught to make no conscience of this kind of obedience as God knowes they make but little such lawes shall lie as contemptible in the estimate both of good and bad as well of the obedient as of lawlesse and vnruly people euery man keeping or breaking the same as shall seeme best for his owne priuate aduantage But I would rather thinke and teach that as God Almightie is not an idle beholder of mens affaires but hath a powerfull working in euery action either to effect it or dispose it vnto good so sitting as Dauid speaketh in the parliament or assemblie of gods hee giueth an influence into euery good law enacted and by his owne law bindeth the conscience to the obedience of the fame 2 The end of a law is to withold men from vnlawfull acts such as bee thought vnfit to bee done or suffered in a well established gouernment For if men would of themselues refraine there should be no vse of lawes as the Apostle saith The law is not giuen to the iust man but to the laxlesse and disobedient They be snaffles and bridles to curbe those horses and mules which wil not otherwise be ruled And consequently the end of a penall law is by such a penalty to withhold the disobedient that such people might seele the smart of punishment who haue no sense of conscience First therefore if men would bee good of themselues there should need no lawes Next if men would make a conscience to obey that law which is made there should need no penaltie to be annexed As the law therefore is ordained for good manners so the penaltie is a thing subordinate to the law Now it is premised that euery good law without the penaltie by vertue of Gods law doth bind the conscience shall the penaltie then bee added to disanull that bond shall law and penaltie bee so incorporate and tempered together that the one shall disable the other this is no good morter Wee did rather thinke that penalties were annexed to corroborate and strengthen the law that by punishing transgressors according to the proportion and degree of the offence men might bee the more afraid to offend 3 But to speake in their language who doe vrge this interpretation if a penall law be disiunctiuely to be vnderstood that is either to be obeyed or else to vndergoe such a forfeiture I demand whether of these two is principally intended by the law Doth the statute first intend the penaltie or doth it lie indifferent vnto both alike If either of these then is it an vniust law For a good lawgiuer had rather haue his law kept then broken the reason is because the obseruation or keeping of it is simply good but the punishment of a transgressor hath in it the nature of euill tearmed malum poenae therefore a good intention is first moued vnto that which is good that the law may beekept And in the second place a punishment is intended as it is a remedie against a greater euill then it selfe I stand bound then euen in conscience vnto a good law according to the simple intent of it that is to say not because of the penalty only or to speak in the phrase of the holy Ghost not because of wrath onely which is all one but chiefly that I may performe that good thing which the law doth chiefly intend which if I shall trangresse the penaltie is indeed a satisfaction to that law but no expiation of my sinne of disobedience 4 Last of all that we may cleere this statute of all such imputation a statute which hitherto hath had no blemish cast vpon it being without the compasse and reach of their ordinarie exceptions the opposition to Gods law the abridgement of Christian libertie scandall and such like stones which they vse to fling at lawes If the Statute had any such purpose to make a disiunctiue law how shall that appeare For if it be not expressed then is it by common intendment to be vnderstood according to the premised rules and to put it out of quarrell that the contrary is intended shall appeare by three points within the statute 1 First there is a speciall clause in this statute of Vsurie that it shall bee most largely and strongly construed for the repressing of Vsurie against all persons who shall offend But this construction doth contrariwise giue a liberty to commit Vsurie so a man will
venture the forfeiture in case he bee conuicted Like the Pharisies Corban who if the offrings be brought will dispence with obedience and honour due to parents This is * to eate the sinnes of the people which is not iustifiable in any law 2 The nature and extent of the penaltie doth import no lesse For it doth not only punish excessiue Vsurie aboue ten in the hundred but all vnder ten vnder nine vnder eight be it neuer so little it is punishable by the statute and therefore simplie forbidden by the intent of the same For the Vsurie or ouerplus which is taken aboue the principall is not restored to the borrower for then were it no punishment because euery partie were in statu quo prius as he was before the couenant But it is all forfeited by the law to the king and the informer in the name of a punishment shall be punished in forme following which if it be a iuft punishment must presuppose a breach of iustice in the parties punished 3 The third is the motiue which moued the Parliament to make this act For as much as all Vsurie being forbidden by the law of God is sin and detestable be it enacted c. It was therefore enacted against vsurie because it is a sinne and detestable forbidden by the law of God Is there any doubt then but it was the meaning of the statute simply to forbid it It is true indeed that the preamble is no essentiall part of the act yet is it as a key to open the intention and true meaning of the law nothing better But the restlesse wit of man if it bee once set vpon contradiction will neuer giue ouer I haue heard it obiected that whereas it is said in the statute For as much as all Vsurie being forbidden by the law of God is sinne and detestable those words being forbidden by the law of God are inserted not as a reason of the assertion but as a part of the subiect of the proposition all vsurie being forbidden that is to say all Vsurie which is forbidden by the law of God is sin and detestable As if some Vsurie were not forbidden Wit whither wilt thou The sequel runneth thus For as much as all Vsurie being forbidden by the law of God is sinne and detestable he it enacted that all Vsurie loane c. shall be punished in forme following Doth not the consequence plainely shew that the law meant honestly in the antecedent that for as much as all Vsurie is forbidden by the law of God be it therefore enacted that all Vsurie shall bee punished Whether it be a cleere case or questionable that all Vsurie is forbidden by Gods law is not materiall for this argument lay that by for another place This notwithstanding is cleere that the iudgement of the lawmakers in that Parliament was that Vsurie is simply euill in it selfe and therfore the meaning of that law is simplie to forbid it For as they conceiued it to bee forbidden by Gods law so did they also by their iudiciall power and authoritie adiudge and determine it to be not onely scandalous but perilous and preiudicious to a Christian common-wealth and therupon enacted a law and prescribed a punishment against all Vsurie whatsoeuer What hindreth then why we should not submit our selues to this act euen for conscience sake Admit the lawmakers did erre in thinking euery vsurious act to be forbidden by the law of God shall euery supposed error disanull such a solemne act God forbid A man for the purpose is moued to chuse such a wife supposing her to be of so great wealth and of so good qualities hee is somewhat deceiued in both his motiues What then Shall his error make his mariage void nothing lesse so long as the errour is not essentiall to the act it selfe the act shall thereby receiue no preiudice or hurt at all It appeareth then that these conclusions following doe necessarily arise out of the premisses 1. First in this statute of Vsurie there is nothing inacted contrary to the law of God and therefore in Gods account it is a iust law 2. If it be a iust law then doe we stand bound in conscience to obey it according to the simple meaning of the same In conscience I say not by any inherent vertue in the statute but by vertue of his command who bids vs obey for conscience sake 3. It is the simple meaning of this statute simply and absolutely to forbid all Vsurie whatsoeuer and therefore albeit in Germanie and Geneua their consciences may be free from this obligation of a positiue law because their lawes against Vsurie be not so precise yet in England we are cleerely condemned for any increase or ouerplus whatsoeuer condemned in the court of conscience by vertue of the law of God for transgressing of this statute condemned euen by the rule of master Caluin himselfe Ne excedatur modus constitutus in quauis regione vel republ Some branch of this argument is questionable yet is the inference cleere this being a statute for the publike good CHAP. XIII The fourth argument that it is vnnaturall THat the Heathen writers who neuer heard text of Scripture against vsurie at whose light notwithstanding for nature and art we doe all light our candles should with consent condemne it it makes mee thinke that there is somewhat in nature against it especially seeing how that sunne of nature Aristotle whom his mother loued so deerely that she kept few things from him hath concluded it to be an vnnaturall increase Few things haue dropped from his pen but with good congruity of reason let vs therefore briefly examine what we find 1 First it is euident that the primitiue life was most naturall and therefore the most innocent when men liued vpon that increase which God gaue by the yeeld of the earth and liuing creatures For the first trade that euer nature taught was to till the ground by which man might be fed wherein Adam his eldest sonne was trained The next was the keeping of sheepe which Abel learned to clothe their nakednesse And as from these two all other trades and professions for worldly commoditie were deriued so must they be content as from the originall to take some direction The first in each kinde is a rule The innocencie and integritie whereof God approoued in that he would be worshipped himselfe in the first fruits and haue his priests maintained by the tithes and oblations of such increase Stipendarie maintenance was first the inuention of that Idolater Micha yet such is much better then none at all Meate and drinke a suite of apparell tenne shickles of siluer by the yeere for a Leuite it is well But how well the Leuits master came by those shickles is more then the Leuite wel knowes That which came by the sickle sithe was the best and fittest for God because most agreeable to nature which the ancient Doctors of nature haue obserued But
of Vsurie that the dearest friend in the world should neuer haue moued him to haue moued pen to paper in that kind But alas what is that which is deliuered by him and those few Diuines who ioyne with him in that assertion whereupon a man may resolue Nay saith Caluin be it far from thee to resolue vpon that which I write in this kind But admit a man will resolue more confidently vpon that which he then thought then he himselfe could Admit he wil venture his soule vpon whatsoeuer hath dropped at any time from that mans pen occasionally what is that which hee and the rest haue deliuered when they haue written most fauourablie for Vsurie If it be demanded whether it bee lawfull to take interest for the vse or loane of money answere is returned by those supposed Patrons of Vsurie that for ought they can see it may bee lawfull so to doe if we make no trade of it but once or twice vpon occasion and vse it not If then we deale no worse with our brother then we would in the like case bee dealt withall our selues If we take it not of any who by pouerty is vrged to borrow If the taking of it doe not any waies hinder the free loane to him that needeth If the interest be but halfe of the borrowers gaine at the most If we looke that the Common-weale be not bitten or preiudiced thereby If our Vsurie exceed not that which the lawes doe tolerate where wee dwell If the borrower besprinkle the creditor with some part of his increase rather out of his voluntarie thankfulnesse then by way of exaction If the lender bee content to beare part of the borrowers losse as well as of his gaine If in case the principall doe miscarie without the borrowers fault we a bee content not onely to remit the principall with the Vsurie but to lend him afresh Put all these Ifs together and here is a peece of Vsurie which was neuer practised since the world stood nor neuer will And yet these be the cautions of the greatest patrons of Vsurie that euer writ After they haue examined the point and answered as they thinke the reasons which are vsually brought against Vsurie by the schoole yet in conclusion put al their limitations together they agree vpon no Vsurie at all as it is before defined Single them out one from another there is not any one of them who dares defend any such ordinary Vsury as is amōgst vs practised with y◠greatest moderation Alas poore simple soules who haue receiued it by tradition I know not how and do verily perswade themselues that many very reucrend Diuines haue in their writings defended ten in the hundred to be very lawful Let the case then be put after the common intendment of the world A lay man commeth to a Diuine and tels him Sir I haue a summe of money lying by me and little skill to imploy it I know diuers would bee glad to borrow it and giue mee good security May I not lawfully put it to vse for eight nine or ten in the hundred without so many ifs I am no States man to know when or how the Common-wealth is bitten or preiudiced by Vsurie Neither can I tell what the borrowers gaine or losse is he may deceiue me easily or bely himselfe that he may borrow still besides I doe not loue to prie into other mens affaires how they thriue If hee gaine with my money I shall be very glad if he lose it shal not be my fault for I will not entreate him to borrow it onely my desire is to be sure of mine owne with quietnesse and some certaine moderate increase for my money vntill I know how to imploy it otherwaies my selfe Let this bee the case I haue not met with one Diuine new or old extant in print who hath taken this question in hand to sift and examine that durst yet determine this or any other equiualent or like vnto this to be lawfull Now if there bee any who doe animate their priuate friends to such practises I cannot better resemble them then to those pestilent Heretikes the Carpocratians wherof Tertullian and Irenaeus write who said the Apostles committed onely vulgar points of doctrine to writing reseruing certaine secret positiōs to be imparted to their speciall friends who were perfect and able to receiue such vnwritten verities as were by tradition to bee deliuered to some few Now if there bee any such concealed truth concerning Vsurie which none must know but our speciall friends who haue grace to vse it well I would to God it might be reuealed together with the grounds whereupon it is built that men may not runne their consciences blinfold in these practises vpon their owne destruction thinking themselues in a good way without any warrant either from sound reason or good authority §. 2. As for authority so likewise for reason I haue done my poore endeauours to enquire after the grounds of this point and haue found First that authority is so strong against the lawfulnesse of Vsurie as that no man of modesty but will pawse and make question of it and therefore to him it must be vnlawfull because doubtfull Next that it is and euer hath been of ill report and therefore among Christians vnlawfull because it causeth the enemy abrode to blaspheme our profession and is scandalous to our brethren at home Thirdly that our statute law now in force simplie forbidding all Vsurie or ouerplus for any loane whatsoeuer being a wholesome and good law without exception is to be obeyed by vertue of Gods law euen for conscience sake In the pursuit of which argument as I haue presumed to set downe what I conceiue concerning the force of this penal statute of Vsury so haue I touched as necessarily incident to the same purpose the binding power of humane lawes in generall Wherein that I be not mistaken vnderstand me to haue taken a middle way betweene two assertions both which seeme to me extreme First the Church of Rome that shee might tyrannize ouer mens consciences at her pleasure hath vsurped a power not onely to dispence with the expresse law of God but in place thereof to create new lawes which shall haue equal binding power ouer the conscience with Gods law For the better establishing of which vsurpation some of her flatterers doe extend this binding to all humane lawes whatsoeuer making no difference betwixt them and the law of God in this but that the law of God and of man doe both alike bind the conscience So be their words * Lex humana diuina quoad obligationem non differunt vtraque enim obligat in conscientia nunc ad mortale nunc ad veniale peccatum prorerum ipsarum grauitate Which assertion if it should take place I see no reason but that we of the Clergie should stand bound to studie and teach the people the Ciuill and
Canon lawes of our countrie as well as the law of God seeing their consciences doe stand equally bound to both alike which to imagine were grosse impiety Another sort there be who doe auerre that we are not any whit bound in conscience to humane lawes from the authority commanding but meerely from the matter commanded So as if the thing inacted by law be not contained within the law of God or nature it is no sinne before God to transgresse that statute Humane lawes say they bee nothing to the conscience but onely interpretations of lawes diuine and naturall So as a subiect doth offend in transgressing a law no otherwise then a patient in breaking the rule of diet prescribed by the Physition wherein hee doth offend God not for disobeying the precept of the Physition but for transgressing the rule of good health which now is made manifest to him by the Physitions skil In like maner humane lawes doe onely manifest and prescribe that which in conscience we were bound to obey before Now as the former assertion doth derogate from the Maiestie of Diuine law which is due vnto it so doth this ouermuch weaken that ordinance of God which he hath established amongst men In medio tutissimus ibis We haue therefore chosen the middle way to wit that men stand bound in conscience to obey good and wholesome lawes not only from the nature of the thing enacted but also in matters meerely indifferent both because the generall obseruation thereof is auailable for the publicke good which in charity we are bound to respect And also because we must bee subiect to that authority which is the ordinance of God Subiect I say not onely in suffring the penaltie which the Apostle tearmeth wrath but in obeying of lawfull commands euen for conscience sake for conscience sake not because of any humane authority which of it selfe hath no command at all ouer the inward man but onely by vertue of Gods law which commandeth vs to obey authority so as if wee shall willingly and wittingly transgresse we shall sinne against God Admit then that Vsurie were a thing in it selfe indifferent yet haue we in England a bond lying vpon vs more then other nations in regard of our positiue law Not onely Ex ipsa legis vtilitate as Stapleton would haue it but in respect of our subiection vnto a lawfull commanding authority as it is the ordinance of God Hauing enquired yet further into the nature of vsurious gaine we haue found it to be most remote from that naturall and most innocent increase which God established and instituted amongst men for that money is not onely barren by nature being a thing meerely artificiall but also void of all immediate vse in it selfe to the possessor while he doth enioy it So as the borrower giueth hire for the vse of that whereof he can haue no vse but in disbursing of it and parting from it and the lender taketh hire for the vse of that which vnto him can neither weare in the vsing nor be worse for the wearing And which is yet more vnkind the more this gaine doth increase and multiplie the more it may contrary to all other increase both of nature and mans industrie Helping our eyesight by the rules of piety and godlinesse wee haue further found it to be an vngodly gaine which is assured against euery act of God as Vsurie is For albeit in wisedome we must secure our selues by all lawfull meanes against earthly casualties and the fraud of men yet notwithstanding in religion we ought most willingly to depend vpon Diuine prouidence for our gaine acknowledging all our profit and increase to bee the blessing of God And as the first table hath condemned vsurie of impietie so hath the second conuinced it to be most vniust Vniust euery way It takes hire for loane and setteth to sale that most liberall and free act of charitie It passeth ouer by couenant all the hazard of the principal and yet taketh hire for the vse of the same against the equitie of Gods law which saith the borrower must not make that good which came for hire It receiueth great gaine without labour cleere gaine without cost certaine gaine without perill out of the industrie the charges the meere vncertainties of the borrower All the parties whom vsurie doth any waies concerne haue condemned it to bee most wicked and odious The Vsurers themselues are ashamed of their profession the townes and cities where they dwell dare not iustifie the trade either of vsurie or brokage but doe suffer the practise in secret only as a worke of darknes All sorts of borrowers condemne it as being a cruell biting to the poore a cursed snare to the prodigall an instrument of oppression to rich borrowers depriuing them also who be of a midling fortune of that most bountifull worke of charitie free loane which vnto them is most proper and peculiar The Common-weale and in it the poore people may rue the time that euer the least vsurie was left vnpunished for their purse in the end must pay for all Yet for all this if charitie might heale where iniquitie doth wound it were the more tolerable But vsurie as it peruerteth iustice euery way so doth it drie vp the verie fountaine of charitie being naturally opposite thereunto turning euery thing to lucre and gaine and straitning the bowels of compassion which otherwise would dilate themselues not onely in free giuing but especially in liberall lending where money for a time might be spared §. 3. These points haue been proued in their seuerall places what must be the conclusion then out of al these premisses Charitie Iustice Pietie Nature her selfe the lawes of God and of men all authoritie ancient and moderne ioyning their forces against the Vsurer how can hee stand inuironed with such a cloude of witnesses or iustifie his conscience against the day of triall Yet few men there be in these daies who haue a remorse of this sinne or doe take it to heart their consciences be seared as with a hot iron there is such a thick skin growne ouer their hearts as they will hardly be circumcised in this point Which senselesse stupiditie may easily be perceiued to proceed originally from three principall causes 1 First the generall practise of vsurie makes euery one in particular to thinke that hee shall shift with his conscience as well as others Lord haue mercie vpon vs saith he if it be such a matter to take vsurie what shall become of such and such who I am sure haue as good soules to God as I I purpose not therefore to trouble my head for that matter I pray God I haue no greater sinnes to answere for and then I hope I shall doe well See the efficacie and power of example when it growes common It was placed before in the first ranke of motiues perswading men that vsurie was lawfull because it is so common Now albeit example