notorious iniustice 3 sorts of borrowers VSury is a notorious iniustice when a man makes a gaine of lending and binds the party borrowing without consideration of his gaines or losses to repay the principall with aduantage For whereas there be three sorts of men that vse to borrow either poore men whom necessity driues to it or vnthrifts whom prodigality driues to it or sufficient men that hope to make a commodity of it it is apparent by the confession euen of those that would seeme to say somewhat for this vsury as if it were not a needy sinne simply that it is wicked to lend on Vse to the poore needy borrower for God hath stately commanded to lend vnto him freely And for the vnthrift it is also certaine that he should not be lent to at all Vsurers gaine most by vnchrists for that is to feede his issue with ill humors and to put a Sword into his hand wherewith to destroy himselfe and thus the Vsurers most accustomed and greatest gaines are cut of Now for the third kind of men of them to exact gaine vnconditionally not respecting their loosing or getting is altogether against the Law of Charity and equity both for the light of nature will not suffer any to deny this principle of Equity that he which will haue part in wealth must also haue part in woes and he that will diuide the sweet must also diuide the sower he that will take of the good successe must also take of the bad And the light of Religion will not suffer him that hath any of it to deny this principle of Charity that Christians must serue one another in loue and not themselues alone in selfe-loue both which principles are directly contrary to the very trade of the Vsurer The Vsurer serues himselfe alone not also his brother for he makes sure for himselfe to haue a part onely and infalliably in the profit and therefore serues himselfe alone and not also his brother and for this cause the Vsurer is set among those that cannot come to dwell in the Mountaine of God which hee should not be were he not vniust So then the Vsurer whether he do it plainely or vnderhand as men haue a thousand policies to couer their sinne in this respect must vndergoe the imputation of liuing by wrong and iniurie The eight Testimony Mr. Dod. IN the same colourable theft is that common sinne of Vsury which is of euill report and hurtfull effect amongst men and is forbidden of God in the Law and Prophets It is euident in Leuit. 25.35.36 The causes of vsury 1 Want of Gods feare That the feare of God and a louing and mercifull regard of our brothers life 2 Loue to our brethren be the preseruatiues to keepe men from this Vsury therefore the practise hereof doth grow from the want of the feare of God and of compassion to our poore brother Adde hereunto that vsury is not a calling appointed of God but a humane inuention deuised by worldly men to gaine filthy lucre to themselues Vsury not a calling appointed of God whereby they liue of the sweat of other mens brows and doe many times adde affliction to the afflicted and build vp themselues in the ruines of their poore neyghbours whom they ought freely to support The ninth Testimony Mr. Bolton OVt of the widenes of the consciences of wicked men proceed much mincing and excusing many interpretations Discourse of true happines p. 55. All vsury condemned fauourable constructions and distinctions of sinne As for example that vsury is of two sorts biting and toothlesse when all kind of vsury is pestilent and most certainly damned in the booke of God Ministers may tell the mercilesse vsurer that he is infamously guilty of that sinne Vsury condemned by the best Diuines Idem p. 183. of which a conuerted lew an honest Heathen a tolerable Turke would be ashamed and remorsefull stigmatized by ioynt-consent of charitable hearts and strongest current of best Diuinity with a brand of extraordinary hatefulnesse hard-heartednesse and cruelty It is a fretting canker which at this day doth shrewdly shake the strong sinews of this great Kingdome like a fretting canker with a plausible inuisible consumption doth daily waste the states Note sucke the blood and eate the liues of many poore distressed ones in this Land fils townes and Cities with vnprofitable persons and the country with miseries and inhumanities Nay and let carnall reason couetous humours supercilious obstinate imperiousnesse fret and contradict rage and reclaime as long as they will to set aside prouocation of Gods plagues and consideration of piety euen in the sense of nature and morall conscience it casts an aspertion of inexpiable shame and dishonour vpon the ancient glory of this incomparable City vsurers bee Harpies and vultures It is very strange that such rauenous Harpies and vsurious Vultures for so euen Paganisme stiled them by the light of reason should audaciously roust especially on high in the Eagles nest this Imperiall groue and Seat of Maiesly The tenth Testimony Mr. Adams THe Vsurer is a priuate theefe like Iudas Adams workes p. 55. The vsurer like to Iudas and for the bag like Iudas which he steales from Christ like Iudas or rather from Christians that haue more need and therefore worse then Iudas This is a man made out of waxe His Pater noster is a pawne his Creed is the condition of this obligation his Religion is all religation a binding of others to himselfe of himselfe to the Deuill infinite colours mitigations Note euasions distinctions are inuented to countenance on earth heauen-exploded vsury God shall then frustrate all when he powers his wrath on the naked conscience God sayth Thou shalt not take vsury Goe now study paintings excuses apolegies dispute the matter with God hell fire shall decide the question If Vsurers will not restore by themselues Idem p. 120. vsurers shall restore by their posterity they shall by their posterity For as Pliny writes of the Wolfe that it brings forth blind Whelpes so the vsurer lightly begets blind children that cannot see to keepe what their fathers left But when the father is gone to hell for gathering the sonne often followes for scattering But God is iust A good man leaueth his inheritance to his childrens children and the wealth of the sinner is laid vp for the iust An vsurer is knowne by his very lookes often Idem p. 454. The vsurer knowne by his lookes by his speeches commonly by his actions euer he hath a leane cheeke a meager body as if he were fed at the Diuels allowance his eyes are almost sunke to the backside of his head with admiration of money His eares are set to tell the clocke his whole carcasse a meere Anatomy Some Vsurers haue fatter carcasses and can find in their hearts to lard their flesh but a common meagernesse is vpon all their consciences Foenus pecuniae funus
secured for the receit and the debtor bound for the payment both of the principall and also of the Vsury Let vs now see how by this definition Vsury is distinguished from other contracts and also other things which may seeme to haue some affinity therewith for of the rest it is needlesse to speake It is therefore distinguished Vsury distinguished 1 From all liberall contracts Idem p. 157. 1. From all liberall contracts as that of donation or free gift of mutuation or free lending to spend of commodation or free lending to vse because they be free and liberall but Vsury is illiberall and for gaine 2 From all lawfull buying 2. From all lawfull buying because in buying there is a perpetuall alienation of money in Vsury but for a time 3 For letting to hire 3. From lawfull Location or letting to hire which is the rather to be obserued because some imagine that money and other things which are lent vpon Vsury Idem p. 158. may as well be let as other things But there is a great difference betwixt Vsury and the lawfull contract of Location or letting And first they differ in the subiects Vsury is in those things which are spent in the vse and consist in quantity standing in number weight and measure Location is of such things as are not spent in the vse neyther stand in number weight and measure The subiect of Vsury are such things as haue no fruitfull vse in themselues but the gaine which is to be raised by imployment of them is to be imputed to the industry and skill of the imployer The subiect of Location haue a fruitfull vse in themselues naturally The vse of things lent vpon Vsury cannot be seuered or reckoned apart from the property and dominion because they are such things as are spent in the vse and therefore if you vse them you spend them The fruitfull vse of things lent may be seuered and reckoned apart and is valuable by it selfe as of Lands Goods Houses c. which remaine in the vse vnspent In the contract of loane whether free or vpon Vsury the lender granteth to the borrower not onely the vse but also the property of the thing lent from which the vse of that which we lend to be spent in the vse cannot be seuered hence it is called mutuum because by lending it is made ex meo tuum In the contract of Location the letter granteth to him that taketh to hire the vse onely of the things retaining the property to himselfe Because that which is the subiect of loane and Vsury is spent in the vse and is lent to be spent therefore the borrower is bound to restore not the same particular which he borrowed but so much in quantity or full valew in the same kind without any impairing or diminution Because that which is the subiect of commodity and Location is lent and let not to be spent but onely to be vsed therefore he that taketh the same to vse is bound to restore the selfe same particular which for the most part is impayred and made worse in the vse As in mutuation and Vsury the property is translated to the borrower so with the property also the hazzard wholy appertayneth to the borrower for the very contract of mutuation includeth in it an obligation binding the borrower that whatsoeuer becommeth of this particular which he borroweth he shall restore the full valew thereof at the day appoynted in the same kind And to this purpose the borrower maketh promise either by word or writing entreth into bonds and statutes laying his goods to pawne or his lands to mortgage giueth sureties to assure and secure the creditor for the principall As in Location the vse is communicated to the Hirer but the Letter retaineth the property so the thing if it shall miscarry without the default of the Hirer belongeth to the Letter and not to the Hirer because it came for his hire Exod. 22.14 And it is a rule in law to whom the hazzard appertaineth to him the fruit and profit belongeth Where there is a Couenant to beare part of the losse as well as to reape part of the gaine 4 From the contract of Partnership and this contract is neyther vsury nor loane but a lawfull contract Which in Latine is called Nauticum 5 From aduenturers vsury or Maritimum Foenus and is a gaine or allowance made for money which is transported beyond the Seas at the perill and hazard of the Creditor This is not vnlawfull prouided Idem p. 164. 165. alwayes that there be an aduenture or hazard in truth and not in pretence onely and also that the gaine be proportionable to the hazard Which is a gratuitie or free gift 6 From liberall vsury when the borrower finding himselfe much benefited by the lenders curtesie doth of his owne accord in testimony of his thankefulnesse freely giue to the lender who neyther intended when he lent nor expected whiles he forbore any gaine and much lesse couenanted for it From that which is called Vsura compeus satoria recompencing vsury which we call intrest 7 From recompencing vsury Bb. Downam in Ps 15 p. 166. Dr. Smith in Willet vpon Leuit. p. 631. Powels Posit of vsury p. 14. Bb. Iewel 1 Thess p. 135. which is nothing else but a iust recompence which the Debter hauing through his default beene the effectuall cause of the Creditours hinderance doth owe vnto him by the Law of nature and that hinderance may be two fold Damnum emergens losse arising or Lucrum cessans gaine ceasing but this ceasing gaine which must come into estimation must not be vncertaine and doubtfull but certaine or at least very probable Here are certaine cautions to be remembred First that intrest bee esteemed not according to the gaine or benefit which the borrower hath had by the imployment of the money but according to the hinderance or losse which the creditour sustained through the borrowers default Secondly that Interest is not to he required nisi post moram but onely after delay and default committed by the borrower Thirdly that not alwayes after delay it is to be required but onely then when the creditour hath indeed sustained losse or hindrance by the borrowers delay Fourthly that he doe not voluntarily incurre any losse meaning to lay the burthen thereof on the borrower but doe his true endeauour to auoyd it eyther in whole or in part Fiftly that when he suspecteth losse or hinderance by the debtors delay he descend not into extremities with those who haue broken day not through negligence or vnfaythfulnesse but through want and necessity which they did not foresee and let him remember that where is no fault there ought to be no punishment Sixtly that the estimation of the interest be not referred to the creditors owne arbitrament but committed to the iudgement of some other honest and discreet men which conditions being obserued it is lawfull for the creditour
ignem purionem But because we cannot ease our hearts so soone of them nor by such meanes I will tell them for their owne comfort what they shall trust to amongst other things that although they labour in the fire to get riches yet the time shall come when there shall nothing remaine vnto them but this that they shall be able to know and recount with themselues how many debters they haue quite vndone As for their treasures of iniquity let them plainely vnderstand that they put them into a bottomlesse bag which could hold nothing De malè quaesitis c. Ill gotten goods neuer descend to the third heire perhaps not to the second nor first not to benefit himselfe who thinketh he hath most handfast She gathered it of the hire of an harlot Micah 1. Vsurers goods shall not prosper and it shall returne to the wages of an harlot They gathered their wealth by vsury and vsury or somewhat else shall consume it Gnipho the Vsurer as Lucian reporteth lieth in hell bemoaning his hard estate that Râ—docares an incestuous spend thrift should waste his goods so may these but I leaue their iudgement to God to whom it belongeth For vengeance is his and he will repay it Yet dare I giue sentence against it as far as the ancient Romanes lawes did wherein because a thiefe was bound to make restitution of double the Vsurer of foure fold Their meaning is plaine enough Vsury double theft that they esteemed vsury a double theft and that at the least is my iudgement And therefore as Alexander Seuerus made an Act that none should salute the Emperour Note who knew himselfe to be a thiefe so let our Vsurers take themselues warned Vsurers not to salute Christians and discharged so long as their hearts accuse them of their double and treble theft from saluting Christians and much more from eating drinking conuersing most of all from praying fasting communicating with Christians The 4. Testimony Bishop Lakes In his workes vol. p. 343. THis is no small difference betweene God and the diuell The diueil in shew biddeth vs loue our selues doe all for our selues and we are so simple as to beleeue him The diuell the image of Vsurers and thinke that we doe so whereas the euent proues that we doe all for him and to our owne ruine for he is the plaine image of Vsurers who liue by the sweat of other mens browes and cunningly grow rich by vndoing others with a seeming reliefe Idem vpon Ps 50.21 God will reproue Vsurers God himselfe sayth it in the close of this Psalme Heare this all ye that forget God Iewes Gentiles whatsoeuer you be if you be adulterers drunkards Vsurers blasphemers any way wicked liuers Consider this saith God lest I suddenly take you away and there be none to helpe you For if we be guilty of such sinnes and encourage our selues in them by base conceits of God God will not faile to reproue vs and marshall such wickednesse before vs to conuict vs thereof and to confound vs therewith Idem Sermon vpon Iohn 2.16 Vsurers fill the land with poore While the Gentleman depopulates the Countrey and the Vsurer and Victuler are become the chiefe Tradesmen of Incorporations what wonder if contrary to Gods Law and the Kings the whole Land be filled with miserable poore The fift Testimony Bishop Downam This most reuerend and learned Bishop proues vsury to be vnlawfull by diuers arguments 1 Argument Proposition vpon Ps 13. p. 250. Whatsoeuer peruerteth and ouerturneth an act of vertue especially such a necessary act to humane societies that is to say free lending it is not onely a vice but a detestable vice But vsury peruerteth and depraueth this necessary act of liberality and charity free lending Assumpt turning it into an act of selfe loue couetousnesse and cruelty Therefore vsury is not onely a vice Concl. but a detestable vice The proposition is proued because nothing is opposite to vertue but vice As for free lending it is a commendable act of liberality and a necessary duty of charity The assumption is cleare and manifest For whereas by the ordinance of God and by the Law of nature lending is free and charitable intending the good of the borrower and not of the lender vsury hath made it illiberall and vncharitable intending the lenders profit chiefly if not onely and seeking yea couenanting for the lenders gaine as well out of the losse of the borrower as out of his gaine The property of charity is not to seeke her owne but the good of others and whereas other vertues serue for the good of the subiect wherein they are the acts of charity and liberality are referred to the good of others Note lending therefore being an act of liberality and charity ought to respect the good of the borrower if not onely yet chiefly but lending by vsury is made an act of selfeloue wherein the good of the borrower is sought either not at all or but in a secondary respect Vsurers couenant absolutely for gaine as it serueth to further the lenders gaine For indeed the lender by vsury couenanteth absolutely for gaine which hapneth sometimes out of the borrowers losse and sometimes also out of his gaine which the Vsurer will pretend to seeke and respect but the truth is he will neuer looke after his neighbours profit vnlesse therein he may be sure to find his owne gaine The vsurers lending therefore is an act of selfeloue Lending proceedeth from 3 fountaines and it is also an act of couetousnesse For whereas lending proceedeth from one of these 3 fountaines either from Christian charity or from ciuill loue and humanity or from couetousnesse he is sayd to lend in Christian charity who lendeth for the Lords sake to his needy neighbour looking for nothing againe in ciuill charity or curtesie who lendeth to pleasure his friend looking for his owne againe in couetousnesse who lookes for more then his owne For indeed what is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is couetousnesse but an vnlawfull desire of hauing more 2 Argument Idem p. 310. Vsury cannot be practised with a good conscience because it cannot be done in fayth that is to say in a sound perswasion out of the Word of God that it is lawfull and whatsoeuer is not of fayth is sinne Rom. 14.23 3 Argument Phil. 4.8 Rom. 12.17 1 Thes 5.22 That which is not honest and of good report is not to be practised For the Scripture teacheth vs that we should doe such things as are honest and of good report prouiding for honest things not onely before God but also before men abstaining from all shewes of euill Improbanturij quaestus qui in odia hominum incurrunt vt faeneratorum De Off. lib. 1. But vsury is a very odious thing and of ill report the very heathen by the light of nature detested it Tully saith such things are to be
the sinnes of men But let them remember that these flies of Aegypt had but a time God sent them in wrath and tooke them away in mercy vpon intreatie Some Moses or other shall stand vp and the Lord shall send a strong West wind to take these canker wormes away and cast them into the red Sea that in our coast they may torment no longer Amen Idem vpon the Commandements p. 69. 70. If a man saith the Law borrow any thing of his neighbour and it be hurt or else die the owner of it not being by he shall surely make it good If it be an hired thing he shall not make it good for it came for his hire In which Law if we well weighe it we may first see that if we haue that thing which our neighbour would borrow and we be able without our hurt well to spare it him we are bound to do it or else we sinne against this Law of GOD and we euen steale from our brother that which in right is his For God would not euer haue made a Law for recompence of the lender It is a necessary duty of loue to lend when we may if his thing lent receiue any harme vnlesse it had beene a necessary duty of loue to lend when we may therefore this narrownesse of heart and vnkind disposition to grudge vnto any that good which by lending wee can possibly do him it is hatefull in the eyes of God and a plaine breach of this Commandement Secondly in this Law as one hath very well noted wee may see a great light giuen to that hard controuersie concerning vsury of money For marke I pray you how he saith in plaine termes that if the thing were hired and though it perished in the vse yet should it not be made good by him which hired it for it came for his hire The money which Vsurers giue out is hired as you know Therefore if it were a thing that might be hired you see the sentence of God though it perished Secondly marke againe how the Lord sayth though a man lend of meere loue freely without any hire yet shall his recompence be nothing more then good will againe vnlesse it die or be hurt which he lendeth Now money neyther dyeth neyther commonly is any whit hurt but returneth euery way as good as it came Thirdly consider how the Law will haue an apparent hurt of the thing lent or else it alloweth no recompence Vsurers haue consideration for likely losse but Vsurers wil haue consideration for likely losse for say they If I had had my money possibly I could haue gained thus much with it yet are they not sure they could haue done it for God could haue crossed their expectation and being not sure that they could haue gained it is not apparent that they haue beene hindred but this Law of God prouideth in equity onely for apparent harme and therefore nothing for them Fourthly the equity of this Law is onely this that good will be no loser They will haue certaine gaine and therefore prouision is made for recompence if the thing lent receiued hurt But Vsurers will haue their good will as they call it certaine and an excessiue gainer Fiftly in this law of God the borrower is respected that he should haue helpe of his neyghbour Vsury regardeth wholy the lender Vsury plaine iniury voyd of loue and not pay for it vnlesse he hurt the thing which he borrowed but vsury regardeth wholy the lender Wherefore it seemeth that if this Law of God had euer any equity this Vsury of money had euer plaine iniury and that this kind of lending is voyd of loue and therefore apparantly a breach of this Commandement CHAP. 4. The iudgement of our most Learned and Orthodoxal Diuines concerning vsury The first Testimony Doctor Willet vpon Exodus p. 509. vsury defined BEfore the seuerall poynts belonging to this question can be discussed first we must see what vsury is 1. Plus ex mutuo velle quà m mutuatum sit iniquum est to desire more by lending then was lent is wicked Caietan 2. Vsura est lucrum quod accipitur solius mutuationis causa Vsury is a gaine which is taken onely for lending Vrsinus Quicquid lucri praeter sortem dabatur what gaine soeuer was giuen beside the principall whereupon it is called in the Hebrew Tarbith that is encrease of the multiplying Caluin 3. After the same manner was vsury defined in former times as Carthag 3. c. 16. Nullus clericorum amplius accipiat quam cuiquam accomodavit that none of the cleargy should receiue more then he hath lent Augustine thus describeth an vsurer Si plus quam dedisti expectas accipere faeuerator es if thou looke to receiue more then thou hast giuen thou art an Vsurer That this kind of vsury is vtterly vnlawfull and not to be practised among Christians it shall appeare by these reasons Vsury condemned vnlawfull to the Iews First the Hebrews were forbidden to take any vsury at all of their brethren of the Gentiles they might but now diruta est maceries the wall of partition is taken away there is neither Iew nor Gentile but all are one in Christ Caluin Of it selfe hurtfull Secondly Vsura ex suo genere nociua est Vsury euen of it selfe is hurtfull because it is called Nesheh biting Caietan And the law of nature teacheth that we should not doe that to another which we would not haue offered to our selues Thirdly vsury was detestable among the Heathen Detestable among the Heathen much more odious ought it to be among Christians as Cato being asked what it was to play the Vsurer answered Idem quod occidere all one as to kill and further hee said that in former time they vsed to punish a theefe but in two fold an Vsurer in foure fold Caluine Fourthly vsury is against the first institution of money Against the first institution of money Pecunia inuenta est c. Money was inuented and found out that thereby things necessary for the maintenance of this like might bee prouided but now it is peruerted and abused to couetousnesse that money may encrease money Fifthly Vsury against Scripture the Scripture absolutely condemneth vsury Ps 15.5 Ezeh 18.17 And Chrysostome sayth Vsurarius super omnes mercatores maledictus the Vsurer is accursed beyond all Merchants and trading men Hom 38. sup Math. And hee further vseth this comparison like as when one sifteth Wheate or any other graine in a sieue Vsurers accursed all the graine by little and little slippeth thorow and so Solum stercus remanet in cribro onely the soile and durt remaineth in the sieue An excellent comparison so of all the substance and ill gotten goods of Vsurers Nihil remanet praeter peccatum nothing remaineth beside sinne c. If it be Obiected Obiect that God permitted the Hebrewes to take vsury of the Gentiles therefore it
was not simply vnlawfull to this it may bee Answered Answ that they were those seuen Nations of the Canaanites of whom they might take vsury which Nations they were commanded to destroy and so by this meanes they might weaken their estate and empouerish them whereupon Ambrose inferreth Ab hoc vsuram exige quem non sit crimen occidere Exact vsury of him whom it is not vnlawfull to kill Obiection p. 511 112. But Dr. Willet hath certaine considerations which make the receiuing of some gaine by the loane of money not vnlawfull Answer Obserue his considerations dilligently and thou wilt vtterly dislike thy vsurious practises First if thou lend thy money vpon vsury thou must not be such a one as maketh it thy trade to liue by letting of money Secondly thou must not lend money vpon vsury to those of the poorer sort for to such it is simply forbidden to lend vpon vsury Exod. 22 25 and that which he allowes is properly no vsury as he sayth but rather a gratuity that he which hath gained by anothers money should to shew his thankefull mind make him which was the occasion thereof a reasonable partaker of his gaine Gratitudo animi lege naturali mandatur this gratitude and thankfulnesse of mind is commanded euen by the law of nature Thirdly the interest which thou receiuest must be moderate not excessiue Fourthly this consideration which thou receiuest for the loane of money must not be ex pacto it must not be agreed vpon by any certaine compact or couenant as the words here are Note lo tesimun non imponetis ei you shall not impose or lay vpon him vsury It is not lawfull to couenant with a man certainely to pay so much he may loose by vsing the money he may be in hazzard also of the principall for the lender then to receiue a certaine gaine where the borrower is a certaine loser were not iust What say you to these vsurers Such indifferency must be vsed as that the borrower be contented as to be made pertaker of the gaine that commeth by his money so also proportionably to beare part of the losse The second Testimony Dr. Smith In Willet vpon Levit. p. 625. THis is the full definition of vsury Quando aliquis accedit vsus rei gratiâ interpositâ pactione When as any things commeth for the vse of money aboue the principall vsury defined by way of contract or compact for so it is sayd in the law lo tesimun non impones Thou shalt not put vpon him vsury That opinion which condemneth all vsury vsury condemned 1 By Scripture is grounded vpon euident testimonies of Scripture Ps 15.5 Pro. 28.8 Ezek. 18.13.17 22.12 and these places haue somewhat in them more generall then to be restrained to the poore as that in Ezek. 22.12 In thee haue they taken gifts to shed blood in thee haue they taken vsury and encrease and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbour by extortion these kinds of oppression may be committed as well against the rich as poore though more against these then the other Argu. 2 The second Argument against vsury is from the decrees of counsels and testimony of Fathers which generally forbid all vsury vide locum It is answered to these and the like testimonies Obiect Idem p. 627. that the Fathers speake against cruell and vnconscionable vsury Quae omnibus seculis plus satis obtinuit which preuailed too much in euery age But surely they condemne all vsury whatsoeuer Answ in ps 36. con 3. as Augustine sayth Si plus quam dedisti expectus accipere faeneratores if thou exspect to receiue more then thou gauest thou art an vsurer And Bernard sayth quid est vsura venenum patrimonij quid est vsura legalis latro praedicens quid intendit what is vsury the poyson of ones patrimony what is legall vsury a thiefe foreshewing what he intendeth inter praecept familiar Argu. 3 The third generall Argument against vsury is from naturall reason as Aristotle thus reasoneth against it First from the vnprofitablenesse of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Polit. 1. c. 9. for he that is rich in money may oftentimes want necessary food 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ibid. Secondly from the infinitenesse of the desire of money all men that are desirous of money doe encrease it infinitly whereas euery laudable act hath a certaine and determinate end Thirdly they peruert the end for the which money was appoynted which was for commutation and to be a meane to the end but they make money it selfe the end Fourthly the manner of the gaine sheweth it to bee vnnaturall for it is according to nature to reape profit from the fruits of the earth or from Cattell but it is against nature to reape gaine from men from one another and whenas money begetteth money whereof vsury hath the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of begetting Obiect To these reasons some answer That although money be barren of it selfe yet by money one may purchase grounds which will bring him fruit Answ But still the argument is good for originally this encrease commeth out of money by mans industry and so by two things not apt to bring fruit gaine is had by men and money and besides this answer serues not but onely for profitable vsury but where one taketh vp money to supply his want and necessity there ariseth no such fruit The third Testimony Dr. Williams The true Church p. 438. THat you may perceiue and vnderstand how odious and how detestable this biting theft is I beseech you to consider First how vniust he is especially in these two things Vsurers vniust against all laws 1 Of nature 1 In selling that which he oweth vnto the poore for the law of nature tels thee that he which hath should lend and helpe him which hath not as we see the floud finding the emptinesse of a poole will not passe vntill it fils it 2 Of Moses Luke 6.35 3. Of grace the Law of Moses bids the same thing and the law of grace confirmes it saying Doe good and lend hoping for nothing againe and yet the couetous man sels that which God commands him to giue and he lets that for vse which the Lord inioyneth him to lend for loue 2 In eating that which he neuer laboured for Gen. 3.19 for the Lord sayd In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eate thy Bread but the Vsurer eateth the labour of other men The vsurer eateth what hee neuer laboured for and for the vse of his money he vseth to get vineyards which hee planted not Houses that hee builded not and many other things that he neuer laboured for Secondly how cruell he is Hee is most cruell because he eateth and drinketh that with ioy and laughter which the poore man hath gotten with griefe and teares Thirdly 3 Hee is the worst of all Theeues how for his
theft hee transcends all other kind of Theeues whatsoeuer for as there is not a more effectuall plague to hurt a man then a familiar enemy so the Vsurers being domesticall foes they doe impouerish and disinherit more men then any other Theeues can doe because other Theeues steale secretly and in the night time but the Vsurers follow their trade manifestly though cunningly day and night and therefore when the Romanes enioyned other Theeues to make double restitution for their theft they compelled the Vsurers to restore fourefold for their transgression Fourthly The punishment of vsurers how fearefull is the punishment of such theft because as they haue spoiled others so they shall be spoyled themseues and their spoyle will bee the greater because that as the Dog snatching the Bread out of the Childrens hands 1 In this world snatcheth the hand withall so Vsurers seeking the wealth of the poore Idem p. 439. are thereby become the vtter ruinne of the poore and therefore their wealth shall be soone taken from them 2 As they haue punished the poore on Earth more then many others 2 In Hell so their punishment in Hell shall be greater then most sinners And in this there infernall punishment How the vsurers and their children doe curse one another euerlastingly in hell it is obserued that the vsurers and their children shall perpetually curse each other the father saying cursed art thou O sonne because that for thy sake I am tormented in this flame for I became an vsurer lest I should leaue thee a begger I gathered wealth that thou shouldest not be poore and I was contented to be poore in grace that thou mightest be rich in goods and therefore I am now poore in all things but in torments And the sonne on the other side saying vnto his father nay rather cursed art thou O father Quia nisi malè congregasses mihi diuitias non malè congregatas conseruassem because thou gatherest thy wealth with iniquity and leftest them vnto me with a curse which hath consumed them and destroyed my soule That Seraphicall Doctor Antoninus Arch-bishop of Florence after he had heard the confession of a wretched Vsurer The forme of an absolution which Antoninus vsed to an vsurer gaue him no other absolution than Deus misereatur tui si vult et condonet tibi peccata tua quod non credo et perducat te in vitam aeternam quod est impossibile God be mercifull vnto thee if he please and forgiue thee thy sinnes which I doe not beleeue and bring thee to eternall life which is vnpossible that is Rebus sic stantibus if God doth not wonderfully worke a strange conuersion in his heart and the Lord himselfe threatneth that he which robbeth or giueth to vsury and receiueth the increase into his bags he shall dye the death and his blood shall be vpon him The fourth Testimony Dr. Sutton THere is no sinne be it neuer so prodigious and foule but his master hath some plea for it Lectures vpon Rom. 11. p. 296 vsurers excuse their sinnes p. 476. and some reason to vphold it Some haue Scripture as couetousnesse hath 1 Tim. 5.8 Vsury hath Deut. 23.20 Vnto a stranger thou mayst lend thy money vpon vsury though not to thy brother Many perswade themselues that they haue lawfull callings when they haue none such as liue by vsury carding dicing playing these haue neyther the Author God nor the end the common good No calling is lawfull Idem p. 477 when the action pleaseth not God as 1 Cor. 10.31 Vsurers haue no lawfull calling By this I hope some will learne at last to giue ouer their calling whereby they bring not honour but dishonour vnto God those that liue vpon vsury by dicing-Houses by penning and acting of Playes let them all remember this mine heart trembles to thinke what calling these men haue my Soule wonders how they glorifie God in them I maruell how these make for a publicke good How God is honoured a kingdome bettered the common good promoted by them I know not I beleeue not The fifth Testimony Mr. Wilkinson LEt those who plead this cause consider Debt booke p. 61. 62. All vsury forbidden Vsurers do not as they would be don vnto that God dispenceth with no vsury when Nesheh the bitting and Tarbith which they call the toothlesse vsury are both condemned Ezek. 18.8.13 That the lender for eight or fiue in the hundred deales not as he would be dealt withall for he himselfe would neyther giue eight nor fiue nor two if hee could borrow freely and the rule of loue is to doe to all men as we would they should do to vs Mat. 7.12 Let them consider how vsury is cried downe among other oppressions Neh. 5. Ps 15.5 How it is condemned by the Councell of Nice in Clergy men as a matter of filthy lucre if filthy lucre in Ministers then no righteous dealing in others Vsury the ruine of thousands how it hath beene the vtter ruine of many thousands in our Nation how in the Church of Rome at this day all Vsurers are excommunicated monthly how no man of note in all antiquity Iewes and Manichees excepted none I say of honesty and learning No honest learned men defended vsury for fifteene hundred yeeres after Christ for fifteene hundred yeeres after Christ hath euer vndertaken the defence thereof wherefore as Ioash sometimes sayd to the men of Hophra when they stood for Baal against Gideon Will you contend for Baal let him plead his owne cause so say I to the patrons of vsury will you contend for Mammon let him plead his owne cause The sixt Testimony Mr. Smith VSury is vnlawfull for Vsury is against charity Sermon vsury First It is against the law of charity because charity biddeth vs to giue euery man his owne and to equire no more then our owne but vsury requireth more then her owne and giues not to other their owne Charity reioyceth to communicate her goods to other and vsury reioyceth to gather other mens goods to her selfe Against the law of nations Secondly it is against the law of nations for euery nation hath some law against vsury and some restraint against vsurers Against the law of nature and of God Thirdly it is against the law of nature that is the naturall compassion which should be among men the rich should distribute and doe good Fourthly it is against the Law of God Exod. 22. Leu. 25.36 Gaine makes vsury lawfull Deut. 23.19 Some thinke that vsury is lawfull because it is gainefull as Saul thought that the idolaters beasts should not be killed Note ☞ because they were fat But as he was commanded to kill the fat beasts as well as the leane so we are commanded to kill fat sins as well as leane sins gainefull sins as well as prodigall sinnes The 7. Testimony Mr. Wheatly Caueat for the couetous p. 71. Vsury a
of sinning vpon themselues by the custome of sinne doth this extenuate or aggrauate the fault Woe be vnto them sayth the Prophet Esay who draw sin Esay 5.18 as with cart-Ropes Cities and Incorporations haue drawne a necessity of this sinne vpon themselues by three strong cart-Ropes of iniquity 3 Cause of the necessity of vsury First the hardnesse of mens hearts and want of charity in those who be well able to lend and will not haue forced many to pay vsury Secondly the couetous desire and pride of borrowers who out of an insatiable appetite to compasse great matters do take vp great summes of money for money that no money is to be spared for such as be true borrowers indeede Is 5.8 Woe vnto them that ioyne Land to Land till there be no place for the poore to dwell in That is the Country woe But vpon the same ground it is inferred Woe vnto them who ioyne money to money till there be none left for the poore to borrow This is the City woe which bringeth a necessity of borrowing vpon intrest Thirdly falsehood and deceit in defrauding one another of their monies at the times appointed so as being disapointed of their owne they are compelled to take vp of others or to shut vp their doores These three fold cart-Ropes not easily broken haue drawne a necessity of vsury vpon Cities And shall it therefore be reputed no sinne God forbid it is no good consequence neyther in persons nor estates Not in persons S. Paul telleth vs of an heart that cannot repent Rom. 2.5 which heapeth vnto it selfe wrath against the day of wrath Is impenitency in that heart no sin because custome hath made it necessary A drunkard hath brought his body into such an habit that vnlesse he drinke bountifully euen to the turning of his braine he is sicke againe Is not drunkenesse in that person sinfull because so necessary But for the lender which is the Vsurer there is no colour or pretence of any such necessity which can befall him seeing he hath authority from God as steward of his blessings and power amongst men as owner of his money for variety of lawfull and vndoubted imployments 2 Answer The Common-wealth of the Iewes did stand without vsury therefore why may not ours 2 You may find a discouery of the infinite iniuries this kingdome endureth by the vnlawfull trade of vsury In a tract against vsury presented to our high Court of Parliament 1621. Item in vsury arraigned and condemned 1625. Where the allegations commonly made in defence of vsury are sufficiently answered 3 Vsury is the cheefest cause of the greatest misery in this Land as well to giue occasion of great waste as also to make much want and will be in the end the vndoing of all if it be not looked to in time The Romans neuer began to decay till vsury Lorded amongst them Dr. Wilson of vsury Epist dedicat for then priuate gaine thrust out common profit lust was holden for law idlenesse more vsed then labour ryot instead of dyet vice better regarded then vertue no charity at all no loue betwixt man and man but eueryman for himselfe and the whirle-poole of pride and ryot ouerfloweth in all things and in all places 10 Argument for vsury Proposition No vsury is forbidden by the law of God and by the law of nature but that which is hurtfull and ioyned with the hurt and losse of the neighbour Assumption But some vsury is not hurtfull but rather helpfull to the neighbour Conclusion Therefore some vsury is not forbidden Answer First the proposition is vntrue and of dangerous consequence for the law of God forbiddeth all vsury in generall Bb. Downam p 293. as a thing in it owne nature and in his whole kind simply vnlawfull without any restraint or limitation euen as it condemneth adultery lying theft or any other notorious sinne Thus a man might argue for an officious lye Reply But they proue their proposition thus Proposition Vsury is not forbidden but as it is against charity for charity is the summe of the law and he which obserueth the rules of charity keepeth the law Assumption But that which is not hurtfull to the neyghbour is not against charity Conclusion Therefore that vsury which is not hurtfull to the neyghbour is not forbidden Answer 1 To the Proposition Charity which is the summe of the law hath reference towards God towards our neyghbour not onely in priuate but also in publike and towards a mans selfe And in this sence I acknowledge the proposition of his syllogisme to be true viz. That vsury is not forbidden but as it is repugnant to charity But hereby the assumption of this syllogisme is proued to be false for there be many things which are not perhaps hurtfull to our neigbhour in particular with whom we deale Note which are notwithstanding repugnant to charity The officious lie helpeth the particular neighbour in whose fauour it is told yet because it is repugnant to verity it is repugnant to charity God who is truth hath forbidden all vntruth and he will destroy euery one that speaketh lies the lying mouth destroyeth the soule therefore no lying can stand with that charity and obedience which we owe to God nor with that loue which we owe to our owne soules So in like sort suppose that the borrower sometimes is not hurt by vsury but rather holpen yet notwithstanding all vsury is against charity for the practice of it cannot stand with charity and our allegance to God who hath forbidden it denounced his iudgements against it made gracious promises to them that will do the contrary nor with our charity and duty to our Countrey vnto which vsury is in many respects noysome as hath beene shewed nor with that loue which we owe to our owne soules for whosoeuer putteth forth to vsury or taketh increase he shall not liue but dye the death Reply Yea but say they againe to proue the former proposition That vsury which is ioyned with the hurt of the neighbour is condemned therefore that which is not ioyned with the hurt of the neighbour is not condemned Answer I deny the consequence for there are other respects which make vsury vnlawfull Idem p. 297. besides the hurt of our neighbour as euen now I shewed by the same reason the patrons of officious lies might argue thus God forbiddeth vs to tell a lie against our neighbour therefore the lie which is not against the neighbour but for him is not forbidden But you will say all lying is forbidden so is all vsury as I haue already proued And thus I haue shewed against the proposition that all vsury is vnlawfull though all were not hurtfull Now I adde against the assumption of the first Syllogysme that all vsury is hurtfull hurtfull I say eyther to the borrower as commonly it is or else to the Commonwealth as before hath beene proued