Usury Stated Overthrown, Treatise · Part 1 · Section 8 – Section 10
NUM. VIII.
4. I will diſtinguiſh next between the ſeveral values of Uſury, which are and have been from time to time; and are al… called Uſury; and are, and have been interdicted by God and Men: viz. 1. The Centeſima: that is, A certain Uſury which was gathered Monthly, and amounted to twel… pounds by the Year. The Second is called Semiſſalis, Six … the Hundred. The Third, Trientaria, Four in the Hundred The Fourth, Exbeſſe, Eight in the Hundred. All which a… Uſury, and called ſo by all ſorts of Writers; and as they al… are ſo, ſo they are all interdicted; as I ſaid, 1. By God who forbids all Uſurious Encreaſe, Ezec. 18.12, 13. Th… haſt taken Uſury and Encreaſe. As if God ſhould ſay, which thou oughteſt not to have done, becauſe I have interdicted it Mark, Encreaſe; any Encreaſe, as well as Neſheck, Biting Whereof more in a fitter place. 2. By Men: All theſe kind have been interdicted, and taken away quite by degrees. Th… the ancient Romans firſt brought Uſury to one in the hundred… and by the Laws of the twelve Tables (which Biſhop Hall al… cites) ordained, that if any Uſurer ſhould take above O… in the Hundred, he ſhould be puniſhed fourfold; whereas▪ Thief, by the ſame Law, was to be puniſhed but twofold (Whereby you may gather, ſaith Cato, how much they eſteemed an Uſurer to be a worſe Common-wealths-man than … Thief.) Within one Year after that, it was (a)Duilia Rogatione.reduced ad Semuncias, ſaith Tacitus, to half a pound in an hundred: and the next Year after, that alſo was aboliſhed, Genuncia rogatione, ſaith Bodin, whereby it was enacted, that it ſhould be unlawful at all to lend upon Uſury; as Alexander ab Alexandro informs us. And Biſhop Downam brings and names many ancient and famous Philoſophers and Law-makers, who have abſolutely been againſt all ſuch Uſury.
But more of this hereafter alſo.
And has not the Champion brought his Ware to a good Market (by his Chaos) which yields him ſuch Returns. I hope we ſhall hear no more of his congealed Water for the future: he may do better to keep it for his own Chaos.
3. But I do not deſire to evade this way only, nor altogether; and therefore, to ſhew that I minded diſtinguiſhing, before he ſent me to the Philoſopher to mind me of it, I will ſend him to the third Chapter of my Uſurer caſt; where I diſtinguiſh between Uſury compacted for, and expected: and to my fourth Chapter, wherein I diſtinguiſh Uſury, properly ſo called, from Inter-Uſury, and Intereſt, and Ship-loan, and Liberal Increaſe, held lawful.
4. And if this be not ſufficient, let him pervolve the Writings of the holy Fathers, and other learned Authors, as I and others have done; and ſee whether they ſo diſtinguiſh ſtill between the moſt griping Uſurer and the more moderate. I am ſure they do uſually ſpeak in general, without ſuch diſtinguiſhing. And therefore why muſt I be ſo branded as I am by this cenſorious Champion, and my Treatiſe compared to cold Water that congealeth and hardens in the ſame lump things of a far differing Nature: if my Treatiſe be ſo, then hundreds more of far greater Authors are ſo too.
5. Yea, are they not moſt famous and learned Men, who in very deed couple together (to uſe his own words) even expreſly and diſtinctly thoſe which for their taking of five Guilders for the Loan of a hundred Guilders: and maintaining pertinaciouſly, that this quantity was to be lawfully taken for the ſaid hundred Guilders, they ſay are to be cenſured for Robbers and Hereticks; mark, ROBBERS AND (b)So Archidiaconus, Q. 1.HERETICKS: and them (whoſoever they be) that take any thing for Money lent, though it be but a Mite, or a Cup of cold Water.— (a)In the Wittemberg Poſitions diſputed, where Mordeſius proceeded Doctor.So the Univerſity of Wittenberg couples them, not I; I do but quote them, as alſo doth learned (b)Areſius de Uſura.Aretius: and therefore why doth he ſo run out upon me?
6. But I'll go higher yet. Doth not God himſelf couple thoſe which take Neſheck, (c)In which word is a Dageſh for it in the letter foreign, which denotes much Biting, as I ſaid.foreign, Biting, and them which take Tarbith, Encreaſe, which is more than the Principal, as learned (d)As Ambroſe l. de Tobia, c. 15. & in Levit. 25.Expoſitors do aver it. Which has cauſed a famous (e)Biſhop Downam.Author to ſay thoſe words which the Holy Ghoſt confounds, Let not us diſtinguiſh.
NUM. IX.
2. I paſs on to Uncharitableneſs, wherewith this Champion moſt fiercely and hotly chargeth me to defend my ſelf againſt this his heavy, dreadful and ſpitiſh Charge, and Imputation, ſet down by him in theſe words: That my not diſtinguiſhing, whereby he meaneth, as his words ſhew it, my not diſtinguiſhing between the groſſeſt oppreſſion, and the leaſt Encreaſe and moderate Gain, in his firſt and fourth pages; wherein he wrongs me, as it is to be ſeen in my fifth page: where I do diſtinguiſh Neſheck, Bi…ing, or groſs Oppreſſion, from Tarbith, Encreaſe; which may not be groſly oppreſſive, and yet is Uſury too, forbidden as w…ll as Neſheck, Ezech. 18.13. and threatned with death (f)G. Powel, p. 28.and damnation in the ſame place I ſay, he ſaith, that My not diſtinguiſhing is the Inlet to all that monſtrous Uncharitabl…neſs that runs through my whole Treatiſe. And how is that; In that I ſentence all that are concerned therein (Uſurers he muſt needs mean) to Hell-Flames. Yea, he addeth, that Within this Scheme, I take in by far, the greateſt part of the Nation. And not content with theſe Tautologies, he addeth a third, ſaying, by a direful Gradation; Thus Doctrinally he damneth for this one practice the whole Nation, excepting few, himſelf, no doubt, and two or three more, without Repentance: And to leave little hope from the after Remedy, he tells us farther, Uſurers ſeldom repent.
Which falſe and fearful Charge to anſwer, I ſhall firſt break out into this Exclamation, becauſe (a)Non parva ros eſt aeterna ſalus & aeterna damnatio, Leſſius de Relig. c. 1. p. 2.Eternal Salvation and Damnation are no ſmall things.
Oh, that a Miniſter of the Goſpel ſhould ſo forget himſelf, as to draw ſuch a formidable and groundleſs Conſtruction from my harmleſs and ſure-footed Expreſſions. God forgive him; for, as much as in him lieth, he laboureth to render me as odious as poſſibly he can to this whole Nation: Which, if this Charge were true, and he could make it good, might juſtly ſtone me to death, for ſending ſuch an infinite number of Men, Women and Children to Hell. But my comfort is, that that famous and holy (b)Arch-biſhop Uſher in his Body of Divinity, p. 300.Arſhbiſhop Uſher ſaith as I ſay; that Uſury is a wicked and unlawful Contract, which, if we live and die in, we are excluded out of the Kingdom of Heaven; Pſal. 15.5. Ezek. 18.12, 13.
3. I ſhall haſten to my particular Reſponſes and Anſwers which I have fitted for this heavy Charge, to defend my ſelf againſt it.
NUM. X.
And Firſt, Do I damn, and ſend the whole Nation, for this one practice, to Hell, ſave my ſelf and two or three more excepted? and that leaving but little hope for the afterremedy, which he calls Repentance, becauſe I ſay, that Uſurers ſeldom repent? How can he make this good? Becauſe I ſay, that in my Anatomy, which is to come, few will eſcape, as if he had ſeen the ſaid Anatomy: But I would have him to know, that when I ſay in my Anatomy few will eſcape, my meaning there is not that (c)Though in ſome other reſpect few will eſcape Hell, becauſe few are choſen, Matth. 20.16. which yet are many thouſands, Rev. 7.4.few will eſcape Hell: but my Diſcovery, meaning Borderers upon Uſury properly ſo called, viz. ſuch as are guilty of Uſurious Dealings in Buying, Selling, Setting, Letting, &c. and who may, and very many times do repent; as is to be ſeen, 1 Cor. 6.10, 11. whereas Uſurers properly ſo called, whom I chiefly aim at, and preach and write againſt (like bleſſed Bolton, whom I deſire to imitate therein) very (a)So ſeldom as that we Saint a Man who does but give over this Golden Trade of Uſury, Capel in his Tempt. p. 264.ſeldom repent. So as upon moſt of them we ſpend our breath in vain.
Secondly, Do I damn the whole Nation, excepting a few, two or three, beſides my ſelf? how can he ſpeak it? and how will he make any one that is in his Senſes believe it, that he ſpeaketh true? for, are all, or moſt Men Uſurers in every Pariſh throughout England? Do we not know, that in many Pariſhes there are none, in others but two or three, in ſome but one; as (b)Peraldus de Uſura.Peraldus tells us, that there was but one Uſurer, who kept it very private too, in a whole City. And if ſo, how can he ſay that I damn the whole Nation, excepting ſo few?
Thirdly, But if I had Hyperbolically ſaid ſuch a thing as he charges me with▪ which I did not, he might have more charitably conſtrued my words, as that great Apoſtles words muſt be conſtrued; There is none righteous; no, not one: and there is none that doth good; no, not one: that all the World may become guilty before God, Rom. 3.10.