Usury Stated Overthrown, Treatise · Part 2 · Section 33 – Section 37
NUM. XXXIII.
2. But is it not high time to come to the ſecond Deſcription of Uſury, That it is a moſt dangerous thing? O yes; and therefore I will now ſee what the Champion ſaith to that. Reply. Not ſo, ſurely, where no Rule of Charity, Equity, Juſtice, Faithfulneſs, or Honeſty is broken, when it is not by Law kept in due bounds and limits, ſaith the ſame Author.
I anſwer, And when is that, ſay I and my Friends, which are many to his one? Will ye hear them about Juſtice?
1. Firſt hear (c)Lactantius dc Vero Cultu, l. 6. c. 18.Lactantius, who ſaith, That Uſury, ſo called by him in general, is againſt Juſtice. His words are, To receive more than is lent, is injuſtum, an unjuſt thing. And ſo ſay many others.
2. (a)Melancthon lib. Defin. Appell.Melancthon, that great Ornament of Learning, as (b)Fagius Ep. ante Chald. Par.Fagius calls him, ſaith, It is againſt Equity, and no man ought to make Gain of another mans Goods. But he that takes Uſury maketh Gain of that which is another mans; becauſe the Lending has transferred the Dominion of the Goods from the Lender to the Borrower: therefore it's no equal Gain.
3. So (c)Barthol. Capet Tract. Comel. 125.Barth…l. Capet makes this want of Equity the principal cauſe of Uſuries unlawfulneſs:
4. (d)Turner, p. 9. With whom I joyn Dr. Beard, who ſaith, in his Theatre, p. 473. That Uſury is ſo contrary to Equity and Reaſon, that all Nations, by the inſtinct of Nature, have always abhorred and condemned it.Turner. Here is no Equity: The Uſurer receives great Gain, clear Gain, without Labour, without Coſt; certain Gain, without peril, out of the Induſtry, the Charges, the meer Uncertainties of the Borrower. A cunning Alchymiſt, that can extract much Silver, and waſte nothing in the Smoak. Theſe are the Kine of Baſhan, that feed upon the Commons, Amos 4.1.
5. And what ſaith (e)Beza in his Annotat. upon Matt. 19.8.Beza of Charity? Chriſtian Charity forbids to lend upon Uſury. With whom (f)Urſin.Urſin agreeth, thus writing, The Queſtion about Uſury may be determined by this general Rule; Do not to another that which thou wouldeſt not have done to thy ſelf: Then may it eaſily be concluded what is to be thought and judged concerning this Caſe of USURY, namely, That it will not nor cannot ſtand with the general Rule of CHARITY. So (g)Hemingius Comment, in Jacob. 5.Hemingius; Eſtabliſh Uſury, and the Rule of Love is everted, which God would have to be ſempiternal.
6. To quote one concerning Law, mentioned by the Champion and his onelyonly Author, I will bring (h)Beza in his Annot. upon Mat. 19.8.Beza once more, to give his Judgment in that thing: Many Magiſtrates do ſee, that in reſpect of Traffick and Dealing among men, they cannot ſimply forbid Uſary: Therefore (which is the only thing which remaineth for them to do,) they ſtint Ʋſury: But MAY A MAN THEREFORE WITH A GOOD CONSCIENCE LEND UPON USURY? NO, VERILY: FOR THE RULE OF OUR CONSCIENCE IS TO BE FETCHED NOT FROM THE GIVIL LAWS OF MEN, BUT FROM THE WORD OF GOD. NAY, THE CIVIL LAWS THEMSELVES DO NOT ALLOW, BUT RATHER CONDEMN THAT WHICH THEY ONLY, TOLERATE, FORCED THEREUNTO BY THE WICKEDNESS OF MEN. THUS ALSO THE LORD BY MOSES MAKING CIVIL LAWS, DOTH NOT COMMAND DIVORCES, (for ſo he ſhould have been contrary to himſelf;) but to ſuch as could not be got to retain their Wives, he commanded them to give their Wives a Bill of Divorcement, that proviſion might be made for them againſt their Husbands cruelty: And yet for all that, they which put away their Wives ceaſed not to be Adulterers before God. What more clear to ſtop my Adverſaries Mouth, than what Beza ſaith here? But I muſt not be ſo brief in ſuch a dangerous thing, as he is; leaving out (as his manner is) what maketh moſt againſt him: and therefore I will now ſhew how and wherein it is ſuch a dangerous thing; as namely, in that it dreadfully endangers not only a Mans Soul, and whole Eſtate, and the very Kingdom of Chriſt it ſelf, (as for that I quote the (a)Concil. Pariſ.Council of Paris, at which my Adverſary doth not touch with the leaſt Finger here) but alſo the Earthly Kingdom wherein Uſury is commonly committed, and the Uſurers Life, which he liveth here upon Earth. Of both in order.
NUM. XXXIV.
1. It endangers the Kingdom wherein the Uſurer lives. For how many Kingdoms and Countries have been deſtroyed and overthrown by Uſury? To inſtance in ſome: Was not Egypt, if we may believe (b)Alex. ab Alex. l. 1. c. 7.Alexander ab Alexandrinus? Was not the (c)Doctor Wilſon in Epiſt.Roman Empire then brought to a decaying Eſtate, when Uſury did over-ſpread it? Was not (d)Aret. in ſuis Probl. & Dr. Luther.Germany, my Country, (which durſt oppoſe it ſelf againſt the uſurping Romans) then brought low too, when Uſury came to be high and common in it, and did begin to live in ſenſual Delights, and waſted themſelves by Uſury, had loſt their Warlike Valour? And was it not almoſt quite loſt in the terrible Wars which were therein in my time, becauſe of Uſury? What think ye? And is it not now again almoſt ruined and burnt by the French▪ for the ſame great ſin of Uſury, which reigns there mightiy in divers places? I, for my part, muſt needs think ſo, becauſe I know the Country, and am not inſcious of that horrid grand Evil called Uſury, which is there ſo boldly committed by ſome, becauſe there be no ſuch Luthers, ſuch Melancthons, ſuch Chemnitiuſſes, ſuch Aretiuſſes, ſuch Parcuſſes, ſuch Didericuſſes, living there now, as there were in old time.
And may not Spain alſo, though it has more Land in the World than any Monarch upon Earth poſſeſſeth, (as a great (a)Abbot.Archbiſhop of England, in his Coſmography, aſſerts it) be brought as a ſad Example and Participatrix of the ſame lamentable Miſery and Decay, which with other Kingdoms it is fallen into, by reaſon of Uſury, which is paid to the Venetians, and Genoways, and others? So as that all that Gold and Silver which is imported from the rich Gold and Silver Mines of the Weſt-Indies can hardly ſupport it. So that for this cauſe (b)Centur. 13. cap.Lewis King of France Teturning from (c)Alias Memphis. Joh. Bocinus. Aubanus de Rit. Gent. l. c. 5. num. 34.Dameata, cauſed all Uſurers to depart out of his Kingdom.
2. As for the dreadful danger of the Uſurer's Life, that I will make out by Similitudes and Examples.
NUM. XXXV.
1. Similitudes. For,
1. Uſury is like Poyſon, as (d)Cited formerly.Authors reſemble it: And how dangerous that is, all men know it.
2. Like a peſtiferous (e)Coelius Secundus Lect. Antiqu. l. 12. cap. 2.Tabes: And is not that dangerous too?
3. Like a (f)Sext. Decretal.Whirl-pool, which doth devour and ſwallow men up.
4. Like a (g)Doct. Wilſon, fol. 62.Cancer it is, ſaith Peraldus: And is not that dangerous alſo?
(h)Perald. pag. 67.And the Uſurer himſelf is like one who hath a drawn Sword ſlenderly hanging over his Head, and ready to cut him aſunder: For ſo the Juſtice of God holds a naked Sword over the Uſurer's head, dreadfully to cut him aſunder; and there is nothing but the ſlender Thred of his Life, which for a little time he has to live, next to the infinite Mercy of God, which hinders it, and keeps it back for a ſhort time. O dreadful danger!
6. The Uſurer is like a man who has an Aſinary Mill tied: to his neck, drawing him down into the depth of the Sea: for ſo his Uſury-money, like a Mill-ſtone, is tied with the Cord of his Love, which he beareth to it, to his neck, as it were, drawing him down to the Pit, his Grave, I mean, and ſo to that other bottomleſs Pit called HELL. And is not Uſury a moſt dangerous thing then? Ezech. 11.12, 13.
NUM. XXXVI.
2. I will add Examples. And,
1. I have read of a Uſurer who in the Biſhoprick of Collen died after this DREADFUL manner: (a)Diſcip. de Temp. who ſpeaks this of an Uſurer, without any diſtinction; and Swinock relates ſuch another dreadful Hiſtory.Lying upon his Death-bed, after he had been a Uſurer of ſome ſtanding, and taken good ſtore of Uſury-money, he moved up and down his Chaps and Lips, as if he had been eating ſomething in his Mouth; and being demanded what he did eat, he anſwered, his Money, and that the Devil thruſt it into his Mouth perforce, ſo that he could not chuſe but devour it: In which miſerable caſe he died, without any ſhew of Repentance, and ſo his Uſury killed him dreadfully.
2. And I remember an Uſurer, ſaith (b)Doctor Beard in his Theatre of God's Judgments, p. 471.Doctor Beard, dwelling in a Town called Argentall, nigh unto Anovay, under the Juriſdiction of Tholoſſe in High Vivaria, who being is Hay-time in a Meadow, was ſtung in the Foot by a Serpent, or ſome other venomous Creature, unto death: and that according to Job 20.15, 16. He ſwallowed down Riches, &c. as Uſurers uſe to do, the Vipers tongue ſhall ſlay him: In the (a)foreign.Hebrew it is, the Serpents or Baſilisks tongue ſhall ſlay him; for ſo much the Original alſo ſignifieth.
Methinks this ſhould make our Uſurers fear, leſt when they go out into their Fields and Meadows, they be ſtung and bitten ſo too, by a Viper or Serpent, even unto death, for their BITING.
But here ſome will be ready to object (as their uſual manner is ſo to do) when Miniſters go to make Uſury dangerous, That all this concerns not moderate Uſury, but cruelly griping and oppreſſive Uſurers.
Whereunto I anſwer, That as God himſelf makes Tarbith, that is, any Uſurious Encreaſe, dangerous, as well as Neſheck, which is rendred Morſura, or Biting; ſo our godly Divines do likewiſe: as for example; The (b)As alſo Martin ab Alpiſcuet doth, Enchirid. c. 17. num. 207.Wittenberg Doctors make the taking of Five in the Hundred, which is counted MODERATE, Hereſie; and cenſure the Takers of it for HERETICKS: Which, I am ſure, is ſo dangerous a thing, as that the Apoſtle tells us, that they which are ſuch ſhall not inherit the kingdom of God, Gal. 5.20, 21.
NUM. XXXVII.
But the Champion proceeds, ſaying,
Mr. Jelinger here by the way, ſpeaking of thoſe in Nehemiah contended with upon this account, has theſe words; For they had promiſed him that they would leave Uſury, and reſtore, as I would wiſh you to promiſe ſo too. Reply. I have heard of other Advice he gave lately to one concerned on the ſame ſcore, viz. Go to the Parties, and ask Forgiveneſs; though the Party were ſufficient to make Reſtitution. Whereunto my Anſwer is:
1. That I do not adviſe Uſurers to ask Forgiveneſs, as in other Caſes; nor ask one another Forgiveneſs, when they have offended, in WORDS: but to have the Uſury money, which they have taken, and are to reſtore, forgiven them, in caſe they be not able to reſtore. Which Advice I give as I am verlatim adviſed by greater men than he, the Champion, is, even famous men indeed, whoſe Conſent I have in this, and ſhall nominate in its proper time and place.
2. That the truth is, that there is one, a Miniſter's Widow, which is concerned in this thing, and has been convinced by my late Book againſt Uſury, (as others alſo, both Miniſters and private Chriſtians, have been both convinced and changed by it) bleſſed be God, and has rendred me hearty thanks for it, and hath made Reſtitution, as all the Country about me knoweth, and talks of it, though ſhe was hardly able to do it, as her Neigbours tell me.
3. I anſwer, That this Convert took but Six in the Hundred, which is, as they ſay, Moderated Uſury; and yet repented of that, and made Reſtitution of about Thirty pounds, not being diſſuaded by me from ſo doing.
4. That being a Widow, and ſo conſequently not ſo well able to employ her Money as Men; and being told, that it was lawful for Widows to lend their Money upon Uſury, ye… ſhe would leave it, and made Reſtitution, as aforeſaid.
5. That this Friend of mine was much blamed for it, and falſly reported to be diſtracted, by ſome who ſhould rather have encouraged her; and yet would not be diſcouraged by them, nor taken off from her Godly courſe, which ſhe took for the eaſing of her troubled Conſcience, for her former taking of Vſury.
6. That I take ſpecial notice of it, that ſuch a one ſhould be ſo converted and changed, that very time when my Treatiſe of Vſury came forth, for the confirmation of it, and encouragement and drawing of others to do as ſhe did.
7. That I look upon it likewiſe as a remarkable ordering of God's all-ruling Providence, that ſuch a thing ſhould happen in the very ſame Pariſh and Village wherein my chief Adverſary dwells, but a few doors from him, to convince him that God's Hand is in it, and that he approveth of my Proceedings, making it evident to all that ſee and know this Change and Succeſs, and how ſhe reproves my chief Antagoniſt for defending Vſury.
8. That I have given my Advice to others too, and to ſome of my neareſt Relations, to make Reſtitution, as ſhe made; which alſo they did, as I can prove it, to ſtop my Adverſaries Mouth.