Selected quad for the lemma: law_n
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A00671
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A treatise of vsurie diuided into three bookes: the first defineth what is vsurie. The second determineth that to be vnlawfull. The third remoueth such motiues as perswade men in this age that it may be lawfull. By Robert Fenton Bachelar of Diuinitie.
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Fenton, Roger, 1565-1616.
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1611
(1611)
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STC 10806; ESTC S101958
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118,517
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170
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vnnaturall brood or generation of that which by nature is barren The spirit of God in Scripture hath branded all increase and ouerplus whatsoeuer aboue the principall by the name of a biter or gnawer as appeareth by the exegeticall ioyning of Tarbith with Neshec in the Law and the Prophets Which increase and ouerplus comming for the loane either of money or any thing which passeth by number weight or measure if it come meerely for loane without any other valuable consideration and meerely for that loane which passeth ouer the propertie and with the propertie the perill and aduenture of the principall and if it come for this loane not by way of gratuitie afterward freely giuen nor in the name of satisfaction for damage suffered by the lender without his owne act and consent but by former couenant and voluntarie contract betwixt the borrower and the lender and if this couenant be for lucre and gaine cleere gaine valuable gaine ratable at a certaine price either in money or money worth then is it that vsurie whereof the question moued is now to be discussed Whether it be a thing indifferent in it owne nature in any kinde allowable or whether it be simplie to be condemned as a sinne before God In this defining of Vsurie and distinguishing of it from all such practises as be only like vnto it and doe border vpon it we ought so neere as wee can to cut it by a threed and in the examining of the seuerall branches we shall meet with much finer and subtiller threeds then hitherto wee haue ouer fine I confesse for so blunt an instrument Notwithstanding this caueat I would gladly commend vnto you before hand that if this vsurie thus described do proue to be a sinne of that nature and degree as I am afraid it will men would not inure themselues in their commerce to coast ouer neere vpon it lest by little and little they be inticed by so sweete and pleasant a baite as this kinde of lucre is for the sweeter bait the diuell vseth the more dangerous is the hooke It was the wisedome of God in the training vp of his Church at the first to make Ceremoniall lawes as a pale to hedge in and compasse his Morall law like the railes about Mount Sinay to the end that by the obseruing of the Ceremoniall men might be kept aloofe from the transgression of that which is Morall as the abstaining from the blood of beasts taught them how farre they should bee from blood-thirstines and crueltie towards man A point so easie that it is obserued in matters most triuiall A man will not ride so neere the brink of a pit or ditch as he can for feare of falling but keepe a certaine distance off that he may be the more secure It is wisedome in iourneying I would to God it were so in liuing For as in nature opposites meete not without a middle nature so in moralitie Vertue and Vice touch not without some indifferent thing There be certaine brackish qualities which sauour of vice yet cannot absolutely be condemned euen so for vsurie there be some contracts neere vpon it which notwithstanding being filed and refined with many distinctions and cautions may happelie proue indifferent and lawfull yet sure it is those men who will not abstaine from some things which are lawfull shall of necessity commit manie things which are vnlawfull The end of the first Booke THE SECOND BOOKE PROVETH VSVRIE AS IT IS BEFORE DEFINED TO be vnlawfull First by authoritie next by reason CHAP. I. Wherein are propounded places of proofe from authoritie ALL proofe is reduced generally to two heads Authoritie and Reason In the former wee see with other mens eyes In the second with our owne And though it bee a wise mans part to see with his owne eyes yet must wee bee fooles first that wee may be wise Cisternes before we be Conduits for hee that will not suffer himselfe to be led first and guided by others shall neuer be able to finde the right way himselfe and certes good authoritie neuer had aduersarie but pride and singularitie I meane the authoritie of the most and the wisest Let vs consider then in the first part of this booke what they haue thought in former ages of this point who haue been much wiser then our selues and haue had as iust occasion to looke into it for Vsurie is no new deuice but an ancient sinne which hath been continually practised in all ages and in the most famous and flourishing nations of the world The authoritie therefore of the wise and learned in former times ought to be a great motiue to sway our iudgements in this point and if there be any goodnesse or lawfull moderation in vsury doubtlesse some of them haue found it out 1 But before we come vnto them we will first lay that diuine authoritie for a foundation to the rest which is beyond all exception For the testimonie of authoritie which of all arguments in Logicke is the weakest is the strongest in Diuinitie Let vs see therefore in the first place what the Scripture saith of vsurie for it or against it For where that Oracle vouchsafeth to speake there is not any need of further authoritie for confirmation They are therefore ouer simple who doe imagine that humane authoritie is alleaged to adde authoritie vnto Scripture as if that were defectiue Sola sufficit ad omnia satis superque It is alone alsufficient for authoritie if it be not mistaken The Church therefore doth comment vpon the Scripture only for explication of the text The text is absolute in it selfe but obscure vnto vs in regard of the weakenes of our vnderstandings and variety of apprehensions We must therefore of necessitie borrow light from others especially in these difficult cases of conscience which subtill wits haue spun into so many fine threads and which depend vpon so many circumstances 2. And because consent of Churches doth adde great validitie vnto authoritie it will not be amisse first to see what the Fathers of the East Church thought among the Grecians and how the Westerne Church hath seconded the same among the Romanes in her puritie before such time as corruption had ouergrowne her 3. Afterward when corruption both in doctrine and manners had spread ouer and blemished the face of the Church it wil be obseruable how this doctrine concerning vsurie did preserue her ancient integritie 4. But because all these are but the testimonies of seuerall learned men in their writings that which may be added as the voice of the Church ioyntly assembled in Councels will carrie more weight with it 5. Moreouer because a dwarse set vpon a Giants shoulders hauing the vantage of his whole body may happily see further then the Giant himselfe we will see what our moderne writers haue added vnto the authoritie aforesaid and whether our reformed Churches haue reformed any thing concerning this point All these put together if they had a good Collector would
by God or man by God for the poore by the rich for themselues Another reason to the same purpose That wee must lend to the poore freely and therefore must we take vsurie of the rich Vpon this ground it seemeth because God will not pay for the rich therefore they must pay for themselues For it will not out of his head but that vsurie must be paied Were it not for vsurie he prophecieth that the same confusion must needs fall vpon vs which the Prophet Esatas threatneth against wicked and cursed nations That is another reason Nay If vsurie be taken away woe worth all the occupiers in the world That is another reason Adde them all together they bee assertions prophecies execrations which say and asseuer but prooue nothing For Gods example for paying vsurie for the poore is taken from a metaphoricall or borrowed speech and therefore cannot stand vpon his owne ground If it could we might inferre strange conclusions from Gods example who returneth for giuing to the poore the principall seuen fold yea an hundred fold Shall a rich man therefore pay so much vsurie that would prooue a Neshec indeeed Yea but we must lend freely to the poore and therefore that we may inable our selues so to doe we must take vsurie of the rich That is another reason taken as I suppose from Standgate hole For such reasons doe moue those good fellowes to take a purse that they may bee the better able to doe this and that some of them purposing to doe some good with that they shall take Yet all this will not make their act good if themselues be taken §. 2. By these reasons alreadie alleaged it is to bee hoped though they be many that this author is not much to bee feared for doing the cause any great hurt Albeit hee hath presumed further in this theame then any I can finde euer did before or I hope will do after him in laying such violent hands vpon the booke of God wresting that holie writ for the approbation yea and the great commendation of vsurie Being of the number of those whereof Tertullian speaketh Qui Caedem faciunt scripturarum in materiam suam Who doe fell the Scriptures to support a rotten building First in the Lebanon of the old Testament hee hath hewne downe that worthie example of Ioseph who as agent for Pharao King of Egypt deliuered to his subiects now become his seruants not onely the vse of the land but seed-corne also to sow the same couenanting with them for the fifth part of yeerly rent to the King their Lord and master for euer And verily the Egyptians in this case sat at an easie rent paying but the fifth part and enioying all the rest onely for their paines in tilling the land which by reason of Nilus was a very tender mold that men might water it with their feet and therefore their tillage was no tough labour But how is Vsurie built vpon this What affinitie hath this rent with interest Forsooth you must vnderstand that all maner of contract couenant or bargaine whatsoeuer it be is by him taken for Vsurie If it be vniust or oppressing then it is Neshec which it pleaseth him to translate morsurie not vsurie If it bee equall and iust as this of Iosephs was then is it conscionable and lawfull Vsurie in which sense where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is by all translators read that giueth not to Vsurie nor taketh increase he turneth it To giue to Morsurie or take a cutting rent So other places likewise where those tearmes are to bee found are by him very singularly expounded by the racking of lands and tenements in such sort as tenants cannot liue And all those texts of Scripture which do warrant either purchasing or merchandizing or c letting or lending or tribute or any contract of gaine are by him cut down to build vp Vsurie so as if any shall be so vnmanerly as to put any difference between these contracts and Vsurie then is all this great paines of his vtterly lost Wondring with my selfe who should put these extrauagant conceits into his head at the last I found them in Bullinger vpon whom it seemeth hee groundeth himselfe a moist foundation to build vpon For the same purpose the same Author maketh much of Gods law for the releasing of debtors the seuenth yeere because poore men for the Sabbath of the ground that yeere wanted meanes to pay their debts yet of them who were able to pay it might be exacted Behold saith he the rich man must pay principall and vsurie both the seuenth yeere but not the poore for there is the word Mashah which signifieth vsurie and the verbe Nashah which signifieth to lend vpon vsurie Oportet mendacem esse memorem Doth God release the poore that Vsurie shall not bee exacted of them for that seuenth yeere Vsurie I say by vertue of your Mashah then shall it bee lawfull other yeeres to exact it euen of the poore whom alone you labour to free from Vsurie For doubtlesse that law did bind onely for the seuenth yeere and no longer time the poore therefore will con you little thankes for this argument Yea but it is a prettie reason which hee hath framed out of Salomons prouerbs He that oppresseth the poore to increase himselfe and giueth to the rich shall surely come to pouerty He noteth in the margent a notable place to proue that the rich ought to giue interest How is that proued By the rule of contraries as if Salomon contrariwise had said thus Hee that giueth to the poore freely and lendeth to the rich to encrease himselfe shal vndoubtedly attaine vnto great wealth Indeed To attaine wealth and to come vnto pouerty be contraries Besides I conceiue some antithesis betwixt oppressing the poore to encrease himselfe and giuing vnto the poore freely Now lending to the rich vpon vsurie hath crouded in the midst How lending commeth in passeth my vnderstanding there is no mention in the text either of Vsurie or loane To giue to the rich in bribes that hee may oppresse the poore is a vice or to oppresse the poore that hee may the better giue vnto the rich but is it therefore a vertue to lend to the rich vpon Vsurie and such a vertue as bringeth a blessing from God in stead of a curse So saith the Author in direct tearmes Now the contrary vertue hath questionles the like opposite blessing an equall and like reward of plentiousnesse This is more I dare say then euer Vsurers did hope for or imagine full glad would they be if we could proue it a thing indifferent To lend freely is a worke of mercy and bountie to lend vnto the rich freely is vitious because superfluous he compareth it to powring water into the sea yet to lend to the rich vpon Vsurie makes it very commendable A notable place to proue Vsurie A notable wit that can extract Vsurie out of such a place