but a bountifull act to require a quarter at the lest to be paid yearely for euer But indeed this example of Ioseph hath no affinity with vsurie For when the Egyptians money and cattell were spent and now had nothing left them wherewith to buy food for themselues and seed for their ground in this extremitie they come to Ioseph in the seuenth which was the last yeare of the famine and offer to sell themselues and their land to Pharao for food and seed whereupon Ioseph being not to deale for himselfe but for the king accepteth their offer and buyeth both them and their land to the kings vse and in testimonie that the right propertie and dominion of the land appertained to Pharao he remooueth the people of the land from one side of Egypt to another When as therefore the right and propertie of the lands of all the Egyptians excepting the priests appertained to Pharao he graunted the same vnto the Egyptians thus remoued as it were in fee farme reseruing the fift part of the fruits for a rent to the kings vse And therefore in this example there is no vsurie vnlesse it bee vsurie for a man hauing bought lands of one man to let them out to another at an easie rent Their fourth exception is out of both those places Exod. 22. 25. Leuit. 25. 35. viz. That vsurie is forbidden towards the poore and therefore it is lawfull towards the rich and some adde That not all vsurie towards the poore is condemned but that onely which biteth and oppresseth them For there may some vsurie be imposed vpon the poore which shall not bite them but rather heale the bite which their penâ—rie hath made To omit the common practise of vsurers who out of their brothers want take aduantage of seeking the more gaine I answer that this euasion is verie friuolous for Deut. 23. 19 there is no mention of the poore but all vsurie is forbidden towards a brother whether he be rich or poore meaning by brother anie either Israelit or proselit or as Clemens Alexandrinus speaketh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And in this generall sence including both rich and poore the learned among the Iewes haue vnderstood this law and vnto this day it is obserued among them as appeareth by the booke of R. Abraham lately set foorth in Latin called Vox Dei And our Sauiour Christ Luke 6. 34 giuith this tetimonie to the verie sinners of his time among the Iewes that they would lend one to another that they might receiue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so much as they lent And therefore it is certaine that not so much as the lest vsurie was lawfull towards a brother whether he were poore or rich Indeed if the Lord in the Scriptures had put such a difference betwixt the poore and the rich as hee did betwixt the Israelit and the Canaanit To the rich thou mayest lend vpon vsurie but to the poore thou shalt not lend vpon vsurie then vsurious contracts with the rich might with good conscience be practised But Deut. 23. 19 20 he maketh opposition not betwixt the poore and the rich but betwixt an Israelit and a Canaanit and in other places of Scripture as Psal. 15. Prou. 28. Ezek. 18. and 22 all vsurie and increase is absolutly and generall without condition or limitation condemned In these two places viz. Exod. 22. and Leuit. 25. mention is made of the poore and needie because the commaundement of loane is especially made for their good and because vsurie imposed vpon them is a more grieuous sin But may we conclude from hence as indeed the author of the aforesaid english Treatise concludeth We may not take vsurie of a poore man therefore we may take it of the rich Then by the same reason we may conclude wrong is not to be done to the poore the widdow the fatherlesse or stranger therefore wrong may be done to the rich to the maried wife to the children that haue their parents liuing to those which be not strangers or when Salomon saith Rob not the poore because he is poore we might infer therefore thou maist rob the rich because he is rich But the Lord oftentimes when he speaketh against the sinnes of the sixt and eighth commandements maketh expresse mention of the poore and helpelesse because all wrong violence robberie and oppession exercised towards them are most grieuous and indeed crying sinnes And not onely in that respect doth the Lord sometimes mention the poore and needie in the prohibition of vsurie but also because those onely which haue need haue just occasion to borrow And as the needie haue most occasion to borrow so are they most subject to the oppressions and injuries of the welthie For as we commonly say Where the hedge is lowest there euerie one goeth ouer Howbeit the signification of a needie brother is not to be restrained to them which are of base condition but is to be extended also to those who being of good callings are come behind hand or fallen into need not hauing meanes of their owne to supplie their want For if men haue meanes of their owne they ought not to borrow For the holy ghost in the borrower presupposeth need and to the same purpose Plato prouided by law that no man should fetch water at his neighbours well vntill himselfe hauing first digged 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vnto the potters earth vnder which there is no water did find his owne ground to be without water And it is truly said of Plutarch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That the law prouideth for their helpe who want meanes of their owne And therefore to those who haue no need to borrow we need not lend But if we do lend we must lend freely or if we will looke to gaine by those which need not our helpe we must deale with them by some honest contract of negotiation For loane is such a contract as God hath appointed to be free and where it is not free he hath condemned it with fearefull termes vnder the name of vsury For as Chemnicius well faith In humane societies God would not haue all things set to sale but hee requireth that some duties should be free which are deformed and depraued if either they be sold as things venall or let to hire as mercenarie duties And surely sayth he if the Scriptures in the contract of loane should graunt vsurie to be exercised towards the rich the dutie of free lending would soone be abolished and those who haue need to borrow should not bee able to borrow freely for euerie man will thinke he giueth to the needie so much as he might gaine of the rich and you may be sure that will not bee much and therefore God should then haue prouided worse for the poore when hee intended to haue prouided best for them for mens necessitie manie times is such that they must needs borrow and better vpon vsurie than not at all And
proportionable rent perhaps of fiue or six pounds for euer to the payment whereof the sellers lands may be liable But what if a man buy a rent for a certaine and difinit time as for ten or twentie yeares I answer if it be a true contract or bargaine and sale and a proportionable rate obserued that it is not vsurie no more than by the payment of a fine to diminish the rent Howbeit vsurie many times is cloked vnder such contracts As for example A man borroweth or alreadie oweth an hundred pounds which because he is not able to pay at once the creditor for it doth as it were buy of him a rent of twenty pounds a yeare for ten yeares which is a greater vsurie than of ten in the hundred For the borrower paying yearely ten pounds of the principall doth notwithstanding pay yearely ten pounds for vsurie as though no part of the principall had bene in the former yeares paid And thus we are to judge of those contracts wherein there is an absolut couenant for the alienation of the principall But the greatest controuersie is concerning those bargaines wherein the seller of a rent reserueth libertie to redeeme it and the buyer couenanteth vpon the repayment of the principall to sell it backe againe or rather to release it I aunswere if the buyer of the rent giueth as much for it as it is worth in the common estimation of men the couenant of releasing it to the seller when he shall redeeme it maketh not the contract vsurious For that couenant maketh the buyers bargaine the worse and not the better If therefore the seller require this couenant that by paying the principall he may redeeme the rent not because of the inequalitie of the rent but onely because he would not haue his lands liable to such a rent charge this couenant which maketh his case so much the better doth so much the more free the buyer from vsurie But when this couenant of redeeming the rent is made because of the inequalitie of the rent it is alwayes a cloke of vsurie For neither the seller meaneth perpetually to alienate the rent the greatnesse whereof forceth him so soone as he able to redeeme it neither doth the buyer otherwise than in taking a pawne or morgage intend the perpetuall alienation of his principall But you will say in this contract is not loane because the buyer hath no right to demaund his principall Neither doth he need for the seller will be sure so soone as he is able to repay it And therefore such a bargaine is rather a contract of oppignoration or morgage than of buying or selling And euen as he which hath a pawne of better value than his principall needeth not as in respect of his owne profit to be ouer-hastie with the borrower for the payment of his principall which indeed he hath no right to require hauing a pawne of more worth in lieu therof and yet is truly said to haue lent vpon a pawne so he which hath a round rent assured vnto him the right whereof is of more worth than his money though hee may not nor need not demaund againe his principall may truly be sayd to haue lent as it were on a pawne or morgage and in lending to haue committed vsurie because euen as in the contract of Antichresis he hath the fruit and profit of the thing pawned vntill the principall be payd and yet looketh either to haue the principall wholly payed allowing nothing back for the rent which he hath receiued in the meane time or the same rent to be continued for euer Wherfore M. Luther writing on this Psalme saith Nostro autem seculo â—oelicissima est vsura c. In our age vsurie is most happy being by the authority of the Bishop of Rome become justice a lawful coÌ„tract the name of vsurie being remoued and a new name inuented wherby it is now called contractus redemptionis The contract of redeeming or buying againe For this is now called a fine figure and by this justice the whole world at this day is justified especially the Cleargie and that monster reigneth securely the Gospell being by this meanes extinguished and all the righteousnesse thereof with the kingdome of God Necsic tamen Antichristum adesse vllus credit and yet not thus neither doth any man belecue that Antichrist is come And for the same cause the greatest patrons of these contracts do confesse that they haue succeeded in roome of the old vsurie from which they differ little in substance For what difference is it whether I assure a man ten pounds a yeare out of certaine lands vntill I repay vnto him an hundred pounds or enter into a bond of two hundred pounds for the payment of an hundred and ten this bond beeing renewed yearely vntill the principall be payd yet this difference there is that as in some respects the new vsurie is better than the old so in other respects worse Better because the creditor cannot force the debtor to the payment of the principall at once Worse first because the debtor is foâ—ced to greater securitie Secondly because whereas the old vsurie by the ciuile law was to cease and to determine so soone as it had matched the principall and whatsoeuer was payd more was to be abated from the debt 〈◊〉 â—â—at he which payeth yearely ten pounds for an hundred should by the ciuile law bee wholly 〈◊〉 charged oâ— the debt in the end of twentie yeares But in the 〈…〉 there is no regard had of equalling the princiâ— in so much that the increase may by manie degreeâ— exâ—â—ed the stocke it selfe In this argument therefore we are to hold the meanâ— neither condemning all buying of rents though it be with condition of selling backe againe the same nor yet allowing all We are not to condemne the buying of rents at an equall rate and indifferent price as lands and rents in the common estimation of men are valued As namely after the rate of twentie yeares purchase which is the rate obserued in this contract of redemption by the imperiall law of Germâ—nie For the preception of this rent is not vsurious First because this is not a contract of loane but of buying and selling Secondly because the rent which he receiueth is the fruit of that which is his owne raised out of such lands as are at his perill wheras in vsurie the creditor receiueth profit of that which now is not his the propertie being transferred vnto the borrower and with the propertie the hazard Neither doth the couenant of selling backe or releasing the rent to the seller when he shall redeeme it disproue the propertie or dominion which the buyer hath therein but onely circumscribe and restraine it As when I giue a man a commoditie with this condition he shall not allienat it to any other I giue him the propertie and dominion of the thing though restrained Neither are we to allow those bargaines wherein a greater rent
to the place appointed beyond seas to the end that thereby so much money may be receiued there to the lenders behalfe as by the manner of dealing in exchange before specified is due The counterfeit exchange is when in imitation of the reall exchange mony is deliuered vpon bils of exchange with mention also of the places of exchange not to the intent that the bils should be transported for the satisfying of the creditour beyond seas but that the lender keeping the bils at home with him may haue the like allowance which marchants haue for the same time dealing by exchange and rechange betwixt the places named the reason of which practise is because the gaine which is reaped by exchange is greater than any other which is tollerated by the magistrat insomuch that they which put forth their money in this counterfeit exchange are supposed to gaine after sixteene or twentie in the hundred And therefore this kind of exchange may most worthily be called Cambium siccum that is drie exchange because it is void of charitie being indeed a griping vsurie practised vnder the colour of merchandizing exchange howbeit the former also by the doctrine of the schoolemen is to be called dry exchange 6. Lastly vsurie is practised vnder pretence of the aduenturers vsurie when a man couenanteth for gaine in lending vnder pretence of hazard when indeed the principall is not hazarded as when a man lendeth an hundred pounds with this condition if himselfe and two or three other which he shall name or any of them shall be aliue at the tweluemonths end that the debrour shall pay him a hundred and ten pounds otherwise he shal pay but fourescore and ten pounds For if hee should name but one it were seuen to one that he should be liuing at the yeares end but numbring three it is more than twentie to one that some one of the three shall suruiue this therefore is but a cloake of vsurie And thus we haue heard of vsurie practised in such contracts as hauing the names of other contracts doe not therefore seeme though indeed they be contracts of lending Now we are briefely to speak of vsurie cōmitted whē there seemeth to be no contract of lending for gain As first vsurie is sometimes practised vnder a colour of free lending as when a man lending an hundred pounds in light or crackt angels and other money not currant couenanteth with the borrower that he shall repay him in good and currant money Such was the vsurie practised of old by the Iewes in the time of Ezechiel a little before the captiuitie For as some write they hauing ordained a new shekel exceeding the old two and thirtie graines so that whereas the ciuile or Mosaicall shekel which was but halfe of the holy shekel weighed an hundred and threescore graines the new weighed an hundred ninetie and two they would lend after the old shekel but they would be payed according to the new Secondly vsurie is practised in lending vpon pawnes For although by taking a pawne which the debtour may spare the lender may lawfully prouide for his securitie indemnitie yet when gaine is sought thereby it is a cloake of vsurie As first when he lendeth vpon a pawne which is much better than his money in hope to get the pawne it is a spice of vsurie Againe when the creditour couenanteth to haue and enjoy the fruitfull vse of the pawne in lieu of his loane abating nothing of the principall this contract of the lawyers is called Antichrests wherein at the first sight appeareth some shew of equalitie and justice That as the debtour vseth the creditours money so the creditour should vse and enjoy the debtours house and lands But indeed this contract is vnjust and vsurious vsurious because it is nothing else but lending for gaine For when the debtor yeeldeth to the creditour the vse of his house and land for the vse of his money it is all one as if he allowed him the rent of the house and land for vsurie Vnjust also and vnequall first because the house and land which is let for ten pounds a yeare and pawned for an hundred pounds is worth two hundred or perhaps three hundred pounds and therefore it is vnequall that for the vse of an hundred pounds which is spent in the vse and is not lettable the borrower should yeeld the fruitfull vse of his house and ground which being worth two or three hundred pounds may be let for ten or twelue pounds a yeare Besides the creditour though he hath the profit of the house and land yet hath he not the propertie neither doth he beare the hazard thereof and therefore reapeth the fruit of that which is not his owne and whereof he beareth not the hazard But to the borrower belongeth both the propertie and the hazard of the money borrowed Wherefore the Scripture condemneth the vsing of things layd to pawne as lying in cloathes pawned Amos 2. 8 I meane such an vse as whereby the thing pawned is diminished or impaired But among vs there are vsurers which commit double vsurie not onely couenanting for vsurie in money but also impairing the thing pawned as plate or garments by the vse thereof Thirdly vnder lending vpon bonds For although it be lawfull for a man to take bonds for his indemnitie and thereby by way of interest to saue himselfe harmelesse yet if thereby he seeke for gaine he committeth vsurie As for example one comes to borrow of thee twentie pounds for a tweluemonth thou sayest thou canst not forbeare thy money so long therfore thou wilt lend him so much freely vpon his bond for a month hoping that he which came to borrow for a twelue-month will not be in case to pay within a month The month therefore being expired and payment not made thou exactest more of him than by a contract of vsurie thou couldest haue couenanted for But whether in taking bonds thou playest the vsurer or not thou mayest discerne by this note for it thou desirest in thine heart that he may keep touch with thee and not incurre the forfeiture of his bond it is a signe that thou prouidest onely for thine indemnitie but if thou wishest that he should rather breake his day than keepe touch with thee it is a signe that thou lendest for gaine and takest a bond not that he should pay the sooner but the more But if thy disposition be such that thou wouldest not lend to a landed man if thou diddest thinke that he would keepe touch then doest thou lend not to helpe thy neighbour but to vndoe him and whiles thou layest a net for thy brother thy selfe fallest into the snare of the diuell 4. Lastly vsurie is practised vnder the colour of interest so oft almost as men agree for interest aforehand For although some haue distinguished interest that there is a casuall interest which they confesse is not to be regarded but after delay a promiscuous or successiue
for the fruitful vse of that which hath in it self no fruitful vse but is spent in the vse and therefore being not valuable by it selfe ought not to bee paid for by it selfe as it is when in respect thereof an hire is required ouer and aboue the principall Secondly in that hee requireth gaine or hire for another mans industrie and skill hazard and charge imployed about that which now is not the vsurers but the other mans which vseth his skill and paines and beareth the hazard and cost about it the vsurer in the meane time hauing nothing to do with the money hauing transferred the propertie thereof to the borrower neither yet bearing the hazard or charge or being at the paines of the imployment of the money But against this argument diuerse things are objected First they say money is not spent in the vse I answer it is spent to the borrower so soone as hee hath vsed it though the substance thereof remaine in other mens hands and it is lent to be spent For therefore the borrower is bound by the contract of mutuation to restore not the same particuler for that is to be spent and gone but so much and it is all one to the vsurer not onely by the contract of vsurie but of mutuation whether the principall be kept or spent or lost or imployed to aduantage the borrower being bound alike whatsoeuer becommeth of that particuler to restore the full value of the principall It is nothing to the lender how the money lent be vsed for the time of the loane so that the principall bee restored in due time 2. Yea but although the money itselfe remaine not to the borrower after he hath vsed it yet it remaineth in the equiualent that is in some commoditie or ware which hath bene bought therewith by vttering whereof some gaine may be raised I answer first that it is all one to the vsurer by the verie contract of vsurie whether I giue the money borrowed or loose it or mispend it or pay a debt with it or buy a commoditie with it and if I buy a commoditie whether it be such as is to be spent in necessarie vses as victuals and such like or whether it be to remaine with me or be a ware which I would sell to others And likewise the vse of money is one and the same viz. the distraction or spending of it For whatsoeuer I doe with the money and howsoeuer I vse it whether to my losse or gaine I am by the very contract of vsurie bound to restore the principall with the vsurie and therefore these are but friuolous pretences But suppose I buy a commoditie which I meane to sell for gaine first I imploy my skill and industrie according to my trade for the following whereof I am at charge I onely beare the hazard of the bargaine which many times falleth to my losse and lastly the commoditie which I sell is mine owne and therefore the gaine as well as the losse if there be any belongeth of right to my selfe and no man else But as I said whether I gaine or lose by the imployment of the money I am bound alike by the contract of vsury to pay the principall with the increase and therefore my gaine is no more the cause of his gaine though that be pretended than my losse because in both hee gaineth alike 3. Obiection But although money it selfe hath no fruitfull vse yet as Salomon saith money answereth all things and therefore with money I may buy that which hath a fruitfull vse as namely cattell house or lands c. and what reason can be giuen why I may not as well let my hundred pounds in money as my hundred pounds worth of cattell houses or lands which I buy with my money Answer Your money cannot bee let for the reasons aforesayd and being lent it is the borrowers who bearing the hazard of it besides his paines and charges is to reape the gaine thereof but cattell house and lands may be let they haue a fruitfull vse which is valuable they remaine yours notwithstanding they be let and the hazard of them appertaines to you 4. Suppose a man of better estate than my selfe borroweth of me an hundred pounds and therewith buyeth lands and out of his land receiueth the fruits or rent thereof What reason is there that he should receiue a rent for the land bought with my money and I in the meane time haue none allowance for my money I answer in such a case thou needest not lend or if thou doest thou mayest lend thy money vpon this condition That so much land as is bought therewith shall be morgaged vnto thee that so the bargaine may be thine and the rent thereof paid to thee vntill thou receiue thy principall But you will say Might I not as well lend my money for gaine I answer no for if he besides the charges do also beare the hazard of the land which hee hath bought and is his owne it is good reason that he should haue the fruits thereof And what reason is it that when he which beareth all the charge and hazard receiueth scarce fiue pounds a yeare he should allow thee ten But if thou takest the bargaine into thine hands the fruit that riseth is of thine owne and as thou bearest the hazard either in respect of the title or in regard of some common calamitie so is it good reason thou sholdest haue the profit thereof As for the other he sustainenth no disaduantage for by this means he may be assured of the land which he desireth when he can procure the money and if he neuer procure the money it is no reason he should euer haue the lands 5. Againe whereas I said that money being lent is the borrowers both in respect of the propertie and also of the hazard and therefore the profit thereof belongeth to the borrower and not to the lender who hath transferred from himselfe both the propertie and the hazard for a time the vsurer demaundeth What reason is there saith he that I should lend my money and by lending make it another mans without recompence I answer if you do but lend your money the borrower is bound by the very contract of loane to make you recompence by restoring the principall in the full value thereof Yea but why should I make that which is mine another mans and transferre the dominion and propertie from my selfe to another if I may not require some gaine therefore I answer because the Lord himselfe hath so straightly commaunded thee who art of abilitie to lend freely to thy brother being in need as that if thou refusest to lend vnto him it is sinne vnto thee And secondly because he hath most straightly forbidden all lending for gaine and condemneth it as an abhomination which whosoeuer committeth he shall not liue but die an euerlasting death And thirdly because the patrons of vsurie themselues do confesse That for the dutie or curtesie
it is already in part of all honestarts and occupations For who would toile and moile who would carke and care who would beare the charge and hazard of other professions for an vncertaine and it may be no gaine who might be assured that the time which is the parent of vsurie as Basil sayth would bring him in without his labour without his cost without his hazard a very great and certain gaine For to omit the practises of those vsurers that know how by an hundred pounds to gaine fortie or fiftie pounds by the yeare who knoweth not that mony continually put foorth to vsurie after ten in the hundred doth in seauen yeares almost double the principall and in euery seauen yeares double the former summe So that 1000 pounds let out after this rate from three months to three months ariseth in seuen yeares to almost 2000 in 14 yeares to 4000 in 21 years to 8000 in 28 to 16000 in 35 to 32000 in 42 to 64000 in 49 to 128000 in 56 to 256000 pounds in 63 to 512000 in 70 yeares to more than a million and that is ten hundred thousand pounds Who would not sel his lands and goods and all that he can spare to raise a stocke of money that thereout he might by vsurie reape so great and so certaine a gaine if once in his conscience he were assured that vsurie is lawfull Yea husbandrie it selfe from which through the blessing of God there doth arise many times so great increase would be in smal request if vsurie might be esteemed as lawfull as it Alphius the vsurer in Horace hauing recounted all the commendations of the country life and seeming for the time to be rauished therewith resolued straightwayes to be a countreyman and hauing to that end gathered vp his money in the ides of one month he seeketh to put it forth to vsurie in the beginning of the next Hence it is that gentlemen when they can scarce raise an hundred pounds a yeare for their lands without racking their rents are so readie to sell them and hauing put the price thereof to vsury perhaps for three or foure hundred pounds a yeare giue ouer hospitalitie and betake themselues to some priuat house in a citie where they may liue priuatly at small charge as though they were borne for themselues alone Hence also it is that tradesmen hauing once gotten a good stocke giue ouer their trade and traffique and giue themselues wholly to vsurie And the rest whose stocks are not great do follow traffique but so as either they borrow money of the wealther vpon vsurie to traffique withall or else take vp their wares on trust at an high rate and sell them againe for time at an higher price to such as do retaile and they lastly do vtter them to particuler men at an excessiue rate And therefore hence proceedeth in part the deernesse of all things as I haue shewed before Again there is such inequalitie in vsurie that many men being consumed therby the wealth of the country where it is coÌ„monly practised commeth into the hands of a few Now polititians haue obserued that nothing is more dangerous for the conuersion or euersion of kingdomes than the great wealth of a few and the great want of the most and that is no way so much effected as by vsurie And therefore the enriching of a few by the impouerishing of many through vsurie hath bene as the histories of all ages do testifie an vsuall occasion of raising seditions and ciuile contentions in common weales when the feare of God hath not coÌ„tained men within their bounds as it alwayes ought to do â—ane vetus vrbi foenebre malum seditionum discordiarumque creberrima causa Vsurie saith Tacitus hath bene an old mischife to the citie of Rome and the most frequent cause of seditions and ciuile discords In all cities saith Ierome it is the greatest cause of sedition It is manifest saith Phil. Melancthon that by reason of the inequalitie which is in vsurie the greatest part of men where it is vsed are impouerished and that for the same cause seditions haue often bene raised in kingdomes A spice whereof we may see Nehem. 5. And yet these are not all the mischiefes which come to the common wealth by vsurie for ouer and besides all these it pulleth downe the fearefull judgements of God vpon that country wherein it being publickly allowed is vsually and openly practised as appeareth by that destruction threatned against Ierusalem for this sinne Ezek. 22. 12 13. Thou hast taken vsuriâ— and increase and hast gained from thy neiâ—ghbour by deceit and hast forgotten me saith the Lord God wherefore behold I clap my hands because of thy gaine that is as appeareth out of the former chapter I will as it were by clapping of hands set other nations vpon thee to ouercome thee c. Wherefore wise men when they haue considered not onely the wrong which is done to particuler men but also the manifold inconueniences and mischiefes which come to the common wealth by vsurie they haue confideÌ„tly affirmed that vsurers are worse than other theeues and that it were better for the common wealth that there should be a thousand theeues in it than an hundred vsurers For the further proofe whereof I referre you to the writings of that worthie Bishop Iewell vpon 1. Thes. 4. 6. Yea some haue not doubted to say that the vsurer is to be esteemed as a common enemie to all men Luther saith An vsurer is a blood-sucker of the people as a worme in an apple or nut consumeth all that is within so an vsurer deuoureth the substance of the cittie by wonderfull and secret meanes Now if any man shall object that notwithstanding all that hath bene said vsurie may seeme profitable and necessarie vnto common wealthes because the lawes of all common wealthes haue allowed the practise thereof I answer first that seldome or neuer haue the lawes of any countries allowed of vsurie But euer the Lawgiuers when they saw any hope of abolishing it altogether haue wholly condemned it or if the couetousnesse and hardnesse of mens hearts would not suffer them to conceiue any such hope they haue laboured to restraine it onely and to keepe it within some compasse that it should not be ouer-burdensome either to the borrowers or to the common wealth Among others Solon Lycurgus and Plato in his booke of Lawes haue wholly forbidden it The ancient Romans who are renowmed for wisedome and politicke justice first stinted vsurie at one in the hundred and by the lawes of the twelue Tables ordained that if any vsurer should take aboue one in the hundred he should be punished fourefold whereas a theefe by the same lawes was to be punished but twofold Whereby you may gather saith Cato how much they esteemed an vsurer to be a worse common-wealths man than a theefe Within one hundred and three yeares after as Bodin
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 oppreâ—â—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
but that they may with good conscience desire in their necessitie to borrow freely onely men must beware how they fall into this necessitie As for them which borrow for gain you may consider their dealing in the time either of the borrowing or of the payment In the time of borrowing he doth not therefore sinne against charitie if he will not out of his vncertaine traffique promise certaine gaine to the lender who will beare no hazard with him Indeed if the lender will be content to beare part of the losse the borrower ought to yeeld him part of the gaine At the time of payment he is bound to be thankfull to the creditor if he haue gained and willingly to afford him some part of that gaine wherewith it hath pleased God by the creditors meanes to blesse him especially if the creditor could not well forbeare his money As touching the latter point that vsurie offends not against publike charitie they indeuour to proue by these two reasons Because it is both profitable and necessarie to common weales It is profitable For if the creditor haue no skill in any trade or traffique and the borrower hauing skill wanteth a stocke not onely both they shall be gainers but the commonwealth also shall receiue good by the imployment of the one mans stocke and of the others skill whereas contrariwise the common wealth should sustaine losse if neither the creditors money be occupied nor the borrowers skill imployed I answer there are other lawfull meanes whereby mens money may better be imployed for the good of the common weale than by vsurie For when the borrowers do gaine by that which they haue taken vp on vsurie the common wealth commonly payeth the vsurie as hath bene shewed But why wilt not thou imploy thy mony thy selfe in some honest contract Is it because thou wilt take no paines nor beare any aduenture but wilt be sure to prouide for great and certaine gaine with ease Then art thou an vnprofitable member in the commonwealth liuing of the sweat of other mens browes c. Or hast thou any lawfull reason either because of thy calling age or condition that thou canst not indeed imploy thy money thy selfe then mayest thou buy either lands or rents after that maner which before hath bene shewed or else thou maiest deale by partnership But you must remember there is no partnership without partaking in the losse as well as in the gaine That vsurie is necessarie they prooue Because as the world now goeth and as mens maners now are no common weale can stand without it Answer If that be true then vsurie is proued to bee a necessarie euill and this necessitie argueth not the lawfulnesse of vsurie but the wretched estate of the world which as Iohn saith lieth in euil For to say absolutly that cōmonweales cannot stand without vsurie were derogatorie to the wisedome of God who would not suffer vsurie in that cōmonweale which he ordained as hath before bin shewed But whence ariseth this necessitie the necessity of borrowing so of lending ariseth frō mens wants and hardly can humane societies stand without that contract but the necessitie of vsurie ariseth of mens couetousnes and hardnesse of their hearts For although there may be a necessitie of borrowing vpon vsurie when men that must needs borrow cannot borrow freely yet there is no other necessitie why men should lend vpon vsurie but that which their owne couetousnesse when they haue once said they will be rich hath imposed vpon them for vnlesse thy neighbour haue need to borrow there is no necessitie of lending at all imposed vpon thee But if thy neighbour haue great need to borrow and thou be well able to forbeare the Lord hath laid a necessitie of dutie vpon thee to lend freely which without sinne thou canst not auoid Or if there be a necessitie that thou shouldest imploy thy stocke to gaine there be other lawfull contracts to that purpose so that thou shalt not need vnlesse it be for idlenesse and distrust to deale by vsurie Now if a pretended necessitie arising from the hardnesse of mens hearts and setled resolution to go on in the practise of vsurie contrarie to the commaundement of God be of sufficient force to justifie vsurie then by the same argument may any other sinne be justified Object 4. It belongeth to magistrats to determine of ciuile contracts and therefore vsurie is so farre forth lawfull as they by their lawes allow it Answer The rule of our conscience is not the law of man but the law of God and it is a principle That the law of the inferiour cannot dispence with the law of the superiour If therefore the Law of God condemne all vsurie no law of man can make any vsurie lawfull Againe we are to distinguish betwixt allowing and permitting no good lawes allow vsurie as good though some permit it as a thing euill for auoiding of greater euils Magistrats are faine sometimes to permit and tollerat that which they are not able altogether to amend Moses for the hardnesse of mens hearts permitted the husbands to put away their wiues so that they did giue them a bill of diuorcement wherein their wiues innocencie should be cleered not that he allowed thereof but that he would prouide for the wiues safetie deliuering them from the furie or tyrannie of their husbands But notwithstanding this permission whosoeuer put away his wife hauing not broken the bond of wedlocke by committing adulterie by the sentence of our Sauiour Christ himselfe committed adulterie So the magistrats by reason of the couetousnesse and hardnesse of mens hearts are forced to tollerat vsurie so it be kept within such bonds as they prescribe not that they allow thereof but that they might prouide for the good of those who haue need to borrow both that they might borrow and also that borrowing they should not bee too much oppressed But notwithstanding this legal tolleration he that lendeth for gain is an vsurer a theefe before God And therefore as the judiciall permission of Moses in the case of diuorcements so the ciuile permission of magistrats in the case of vsurie doth not serue to cleere a man from the guilt of sinne before God but onely to exempt the partie from ciuile punishment And yet it cannot be truly said that our lawes do so much as permit any vsurie excepting in the case of orphanes Wherefore this argument may also be retorted vpon our patrons of vsurie for seeing as they say magistrats haue authoritie by their lawes to determine of ciuile contracts and seeing our lawes determine of all vsurie as of a sinne allowing none at all as good but punishing it as euill and not so much as permitting any except in the case of orphanes hereof it is to be inferred that no vsurie among vs can be practised with a good conscience Object 5. If letting be lawfull then vsurie also is lawfull for vsurie is letting of money but letting is lawfull
therefore vsurie Answer To the prosyllogisme or proofe of the proposition I haue before sufficiently shewed that vsurie cannot be coÌ„mitted but in things which are lent to be spent and therefore as they are the subject of vsurie they are not lettable And as for the proposition it selfe you haue heard that although letting in it selfe be a lawfull contract yet vsurie in it selfe is simply and vtterly vnlawfull But why may not money be let as well as other things Because none of those respects are incident vnto money for which hire is lawfully required For first things which may be let haue a fruitfull vse in themselues which a man may let and alienat for a time reseruing the propertie to himselfe but money and those other things which are the subject of vsurie which consisting in quantitie are spent in the vse haue no fruitfull vse which either may be seuered from the propertie or valued apart as though it might be let or alienated the propertie reserued Secondly the partie which hireth things that be let after he hath according to the contract of hiring enjoyed the vse thereof he restoreth the selfe same particular which he tooke to hire being for the most part impaired in the vse The partie which borroweth money and such other things as consist in quantity after he hath spent the same is not to restore the same particular which he hath spent impaired in the vse but the full value of the principall with better rather than worse Thirdly he that letteth any thing to hire as he retaineth the propertie so he beareth the hazard thereof but it is concontrarie in vsurie for the money being once lent the propertie is transferred to the borrower and with the property the hazard To omit the cost and charge which the letter to hire many times is at with those things which he letteth wheras the vsurer is at no cost at all There being these foure considerations why letting is lawfull and vsurie vnlawfull the patrons of vsurie take exception against the first neglecting the rest For say some of the most learned of them It is but an ignorant obiection which is made out of Aristotle that vsurie is a gaine contrarie to nature because money begets not money seeing the Scripture condemneth the increase of meat as of money Answer Be it so for there is the same reason of mony and of other things which are spent in the vse Let the Reader therfore judge whether Chrysostome and Ambrose which make this objection out of Aristotle or he which vseth this reason were more ignorant for it were as monstrous to require gaine for the fruitfull vse of meat being spent in the vse besides the price of the meat it selfe as to require a gaine for the fruitfull vse of money which is spent in the vse besides the full restitution of the principall Yea but money though it be not fruitfull in is selfe yet by negotiation it bringeth forth greater increase them other things which are let Answer The gaine which is raised out of any thing which hath not a fruitfull vse in it selfe but is spent in the vse is not the fruit of that thing but of his skill and industrie which doth imploy it No more haue other things say they no not the earth it selfe without the labour and industrie of him that vseth the same Answer We must distinguish betwixt fructum and questum fruitfull vse and gaine The fruit or fruitfull vse ariseth from the nature of the thing it selfe and as the Lawyers speake Ex ipso cuiâ—sque rei corpore and such is the fruit or fruitfull vse of things that be let as of cattell their yong ones their milke their wooll their labour in drawing and cariage of the earth both that which groweth within it as mettals and minerals c. and also that which groweth vpon it as hearbes and trees and their fruits Likewise of artificiall things as of houses the commoditie of dwelling of ships the commoditie of sailing c. Questuâ— or gaine is that which ariseth not out of the nature of the thing it selfe but is gotten by negotiation or making of contracts as buying and selling c. And thus those which haue skill and will be at the paines and charge may raise a gaine not onely out of those things which haue a fruitfull vse of themselues as those which buy such commodities to sell them againe vsually do as horse-coursers drouers and other trades men but also out of such things as are spent in the vse which as the Lawyers speake Non corpore sed quantitate constant as victuallers mony changers salters vintners and such as buy these kinds of commodities to sell them againe vsually do Now if things which haue a fruitfull vse in themselues cannot be let in respect of any gaine which may be raised out of the buying and selling of them much lesse may those things which in themselues are not lettable because they haue no fruitfull vse neither are to returne in the same particuler be let in respect of any gain which may perhaps be raised by the imployment of them in negotiation If you say that although things cannot bee let to this vse because they are not to returne in the same particuler yet they may be sold to this vse and in respect thereof may be sold the dearer I answer that all commodities are and indeed ought to be sold cheaper to such as buy to fell them againe than to others who buy for their own vse otherwise they which deale by retailing which is a necessarie trade should either themselves be continuall loosers or be forced to enhance the prices of commodities to the prejudice of the common-wealth Onely the vsurers who ought to lend freely to those which are in need do thinke they may put forth their mony and commodities at an higher rate to those which meane to imploy them vnto gaine whereby such persons become either banquerups if their gaine be not great or oppressors of the common weale if it be But suppose that money hath a fruitfull vse in respect of the gaine which is raised by the imployment of it yet to whom ought the profit arising out of the vse thereof appertaine surely to him who hauing the property of the money doth also beare the hazard sustaineth the charge taketh the paines vseth his skill in the imployment of it that is to say to the borrower to whom the losse also if there be any wholly appertaineth If you say that by the same reason the Landlord ought not to receiue any rent for the ground which he letteth I answer first that the land hath a fruitfull vse in it selfe answerable to the rent both without mans helpe as in medowes pastures woods and mines c. and also with as in arable grounds wherein the rent is proportionated according to the fruitfulnesse thereof Secondly that the propertie of the ground belongeth to the Landlord and therefore the profit belongeth partly to him
meane the proud and riotous persons they are to be dissuaded from their sinne by this argument among many others That besides their owne sinnes which are too heauy for them to beare they make themselues accessarie to the sin of the vsurer For as Plutarch sayth well 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 delicacie riot and excesse hath set vp vsurers For if these men would liue soberly and frugally according to their calling and estate and would cut out their garment as we say according to their cloth they should not need to flie to the vsurer Wherefore as others when they be in the vsurers danger flie to sanctuaries so to preuent this danger the best course for these men were to make vnto themselues a sanctuarie of frugalitie as Plutarch speaketh Lastly for couetousnesse as those which seeke to enrich themselues by borrowing vpon vsury And this their couetousnesse for which they borrow is commonly joyned either with oppression and hard dealing or with hypocrisie and dissembling or with deceit and cousenage Some therefore borrow for couetousnesse joyned with oppression and hard dealing and of this kind there be diuerse sorts First those who borrow money vpon moderat vsurie that they may put it forth againe vpon griping vsurie a generation of men not so much to be confuted by a minister as punished by the magistrat Secondly such tradesmen as hauing set downe with themselues that they will be rich and being therefore not content to traffique with their own stocke to the intent they may compasse great matters and perhaps that they may play the engrossers they take vp money vpon vsurie But these men offend first in maintaining the vsurer and consenting to his sinne secondly by making the buyers pay their vsurie thirdly by inhaunsing the prices of such commodities as they â—ell as before hath beene shewed But as these men consent to the sinne of the vsurer so is the vsurer also accessarie to their oppression of the buyer and both of them conspire to the robbing of the commonwealth Thirdly those which borrow money on vsurie to purchase lands or houses for besides that they offend in maintaining the vsurer and consenting to his sinne in buying lands with money borrowed vpon vsurie either they ouerreach the seller taking aduantage of his want or by racking of their rents make their tennant pay the vsury or themselues must liue by the losse if buying lands after twentie yeares purchase and so receiuing after fiue in the hundred themselues doe pay after ten in the hundred or else they must abate so much of their hospitalitie and housekeeping to the hurt of the poore and perhaps betake themselues to some corner in a citie where they may liue priuatly and obscurely as if they were born only for themselues Againe there are which borrow for couetousnesse joyned with hypocrisie and dissembling as those which being indeed rich doe borrow vpon vsurie that they may seeme poore and seeming poore may auoid the communication of their goods either to the publicke vse of the Church as in contributions or of the commonweale as in subsidies and taxes or to the priuat necessities of their brethren Would you borrow of them alas their estate is such as that themselues are faine to borrow and that vpon vsurie Thus besides their wilfull communicating with the vsurer in his sinne they offend through couetousnesse and hypocrisie But the most wicked sort of borrowers are those which borrow for couetousnesse joyned with deceit and cousenage A generation of men in these dayes who neuer minding to repay borrow or otherwise take vp on trust they care not how much nor vpon what conditions and when their credit will extend no further they become voluntarie bankrupts and by that meanes forcing their creditors to take a third or fourth part of their debt they enrich themselues with other mens goods the most vile and basest cousenage that euer was practised And thus we haue heard the three first cases wherein men borrow without necessitie The fourth is when men haue sufficient and conuenient meanes of their owne to supply their want And I call those conuenient meanes in this case speaking by comparison which would not bring a losse vpon vs much greater than the biting of vsurie For whiles a man hath meanes of his owne he ought not to borrow of others and much lesse vpon vsurie Wherefore Plato would haue it prouided by law That no man should fetch water from his neighbours well vntill himselfe had digged vnto the potters earth The Scripture alwayes speaking of loane presupposeth the borrowers want Why therefore doest thou goe to the vsurer seeing thou hast in thine owne store a remedie against thy necessitie thou hast plate or other stuffe which thou mayest spare yea thou hast some lands which thou mightest better sell than borrow vpon vsurie Againe consider that to be in state to borrow it is a crosse but to borrow vpon vsurie and so to fall into the vsurers nets it is a curse which we should not be hastie to draw vpon vs vnlesse it be for auoiding of that which is a greater curse The fift and last case is when men borrow vpon vsurie who might if they would borrow freely Yea but I had rather sayth one giue ten in the hundred than make my selfe so much beholden to any man Why but thou professest thy selfe when thou borrowest much beholden to the vsurer and so art vnlesse thou dissemblest and wilt thou be beholden to him rather than to thy friend or if thou wilt be no more beholden to thy friend than to him why maiest thou not giue to him voluntarily as much one way or other as thou wouldest to the vsurer vpon couenant But this euidently sheweth that thou chuseâ—t rather to giue another man occasion of sinning by the practise of vsurie than to giue thy friend occasion of well doing by exercising his liberalitie and therefore canst not by any meanes excuse thy selfe from a wilfull consenting to the vsurers sinne Neither mayest thou hope to bee exempted from partaking in the vsurers punishment if thou wilt be partner in his offence Thus then he offendeth who borroweth vpon vsurie without necessitie and that offence reacheth also to those who without necessitie borrow vpon vsurie though not directly when as they taking vp of wares vpon trust doe pay the dearer for the time The second point wherein a borrower vpon vsurie may offend is when as he taketh vp money to ill purposes as when he borroweth to maintaine his vnlawfull gaming to nourish his vnhonest pleasures to execute his couetous designes c. for if it be not lawfull to doe ill that good may come thereof much more is it vnlawfull to doe ill that euill may come thereof And therefore he which borroweth for any ill purpose he sinneth not onely in borrowing as an accessarie to the vsurers sinne accessarie I say because he willingly consenteth thereto and he consenteth willingly because there is no true necessitie of
borrowing to an ill purpose but also he sinneth in that for which he borroweth and besides the vsurers sinne to which he is accessarie he addeth another of his owne wherein he is principall The third thing wherein the borrower vpon vsury may sin is if he induce the lender to lend vpon vsurie who either would haue lent freely if it were needfull or if it were not needfull would not haue lent at all for he which induceth another into any sin which otherwise he were not willing to haue committed seemeth of the two to sin the more fearefully as the serpent which tempted Eue and as Iezabell who prouoked Achab. But that it may appeare when the borrower inducâ—th the lender to vsury when not we are to remember the third distinction before mentioned For it is one thing for the borrower to offer vsurie of his owne acâ—ord and another to yeeld vnto it vpon necessitie being imposed by the lender for he that doth onely yeeld to vsurie vpon necessitie being imposed on him by the lender cannot truly be said either to induce the lender vnto vsurie or willingly to consent thereto Againe there is difference to be made whether a man that would borrow offer vsurie at the first motion of borrowing or after the other parties refusall whom he desireth to lend For seeing in a case of vrgent necessitie it is a greater sinne for him that is of abilitie not to lend at all than not to lend freely therefore he who being in vrgent necessitie intreateth an able man who hath refused to lend at all that he would lend though it be vpon vsurie cannot truly be said either to induce him into sin or willingly to consent thereto for he doth not induce the lender into sinne when onely he intreateth him to auoid the greater sinne neither doth he willingly consent to that which he maketh choise of onely as the lesse euill As for example a man being diseased with some dangerous sicknesse commeth to a Phisition to be cured promising an equall reward the Phisition refuseth to meddle with him the partie being in this extremitie offereth the Phisition ten times the value of his cure so he will not refuse to heale him to refuse the cure altogether is in a case of extremitie the greater sinne in the Phisition this therefore the sicke partie desireth him to auoid to pay an vnreasonable fee is a lesse euill to himselfe and therefore that he maketh choise of Suppose a man vpon the way to faile vnder his burthen or to bee in any other distresse as wee are subject to many casualties nay suppose a mans horse or cart to be ouerthrowne and himselfe not able to relieue himselfe or his cattell therefore another able man passing by who both could and ought to succour him in this case he intreateth his helpe the partie churlishly refusing his aid he offereth him that which is tenne times more worth than his labour so that he would not refuse to helpe him in his need In like case a man being in great need and readie to faile vnder the burthen of his present want commeth to an able man who both could and ought to relieue him and intreateth him to lend him twentie pounds the partie vnchristianly refusing hee sayth Sir if you will lend me this money in my need I will make you allowance according to the statute Why this borrower should be accessarie to the sinne of vsurie and not the other distressed persons accessary to the sinne of oppression and extortion as indeed they are not I cannot conceiue But if at the first motion thou offerest vsurie to the lender thou inducest him vnto vsurie and whatsoeuer thy case be thou art accessarie to his sinne But you will say he is a knowne vsurer of whom if I do but aske to borrow freely I shall be sure not to borrow at all Answer Thou knowest not how God may moue and incline his heart to thee and it may be that if not in regard of thy need yet in regard of thy friendship or thy friends or some other respect he will not reject thee Why but he is a notorious vsurer alreadie and therefore my motion will not induce him to be an vsurer Distinguish betwixt the habit and the act though thou doest not induce him to be an vsurer yet thou inducest him to commit an act of vsurie euen as a whoremonger alluring a common harlot to follie though he doe not induce her to be a whore for that she is alreadie yet hee induceth her to the actuall committing of whoredome The fourth case wherein borrowers vpon vsurie may offend is when they haue no good assurance of any future meanes to repaire the losse which vsurie inflicteth without either the damnifying of others or impouerishing of themselues In respect of others therefore they offend when as they purpose to make other men pay their vsurie As he which borroweth money vpon vsurie with purpose to put it forth at an higher rate or that buyeth wares either vpon trust and so payeth the more or with money borrowed vpon vsurie with purpose to pitch his prices so as that he will gaine sufficient both for himselfe and the vsurer too and thus becommeth an hurtfull member to the commonweale or buyeth lands with money borrowed vpon vsurie meaning so to racke his rents as that his poore tennants must pay his vsurie and so becommeth an oppressor of others In respect of themselues they offend when as they know no good meanes to cure the wound which the biting of vsurie will make but first borrow of one and then to satisfie him of another and so of a third c. the debt in euery change of the creditour being increased one tenth part vntill at length vsurie hath consumed their whole estate Vnlesse therfore thy commings in do so much exceed thy expences as thy vsurie commeth to assure thy selfe the longer thou borrowest vpon vsurie the more will be thy want Neither mayest thou thinke by changing thy vsurious creditors to better thine estate for it fareth with such a man as with him who sticketh deepe in the myre and clay who lifting vp the one leg in hope to get out thrusteth the other the deeper in and then to get out that shifteth to the other but the oftener he shifteth the deeper he plungeth himselfe or that I may vse Plutarch his similitude it happeneth to them who change their creditours as to a man which being fallen into the dirt turneth himselfe vp and downe for the more he turneth the more is he bedirted If therefore thy future meanes are not like to be better than the present extend thy present meanes to the vttermost for the supply of thy want and where they be defectiue acknowledge thy want and stand to the fauour of others For if thou canst not beare a lesse burthen now when thine estate is better how wilt thou beare a greater when thine estate shall be weaker than now it is Well therefore