Usury Stated Overthrown, Treatise · Part 1 · Section 45
NUM. XLV.
2. But I ſee that my Antagoniſt, not being contented with this his Saying, in his Remark, has a mind to charge up yet nearer towards me, and againſt me; adding, And if Giving may be put for Lending. Mark what he ſaith, may be: he dareth not ſay Is. Why may not Lending, Luk. 6.35. be interpreted Giving? Which, if granted, overthroweth the whole Fabrick he builds thereon. But of that more hereafter. Which Check and Charge to repel, and to put off, I ſhall return unto him this Reſponſe.
1. That he doth well that he ſaith ſtill, If, If: which puts me in mind of a Letter which a certain City ſent to a certain King, ſummoning it to ſurrender it ſelf to him; writing no more in that Letter but If, If, If, in Anſwer to his. Which I leave to the Champion to apply to his If.
2. That in Luk. 6.35. Lending cannot be Giving.
1. Becauſe of (a)As Aretius alſo obſerveth it.Giving, Chriſt ſpeaketh expreſly, verſ. 30. and then after that, of Lending, verſ. 34, and ſo 35.
2. Becauſe one ſhould think that thoſe grave Tranſlators of our Engliſh Bible had a little more Wit and Skill, and ſo other Tranſlators alſo, than this Novice, when they uſed the word Lend.
3. Becauſe the Original, foreign, maketh it as clear as the Sun, that it muſt be Lend, becauſe foreign is a word, which in no Author I find to ſignifie Dono, I give, but Mutu…, I lend: only this ſome write, that the Grecians are ambiguous about it: ſome affirming that it ſignifieth to lend without Uſury, as I here; others to Uſury. Which being ſo clear, I wonder with what face this Champion, contrary to the Current of ſo many wiſe and erudite Interpreters, ſhould put Giving for Lending, Lending being a quite other thing differing from Giving: for Lending is, as (b)Heming. Com. in Jac. 5.Hemingius tells us, a Contract which transferreth the Propriety of a thing from one to another for no conſideration of any Price or Recompence, but only with a Covenant that the ſame kind of thing be repayed again.
But Giving is, when a man beſtoweth a thing with this purpoſe, that he will have it preſently to become his that receiveth it, and never in any wiſe to be rendred to him again, as (c)Donarif, de Donationibus, & l. don. ff.Donorif ſheweth it.
Where note by the way,
1. That there are two Acts of Liberality; Dono dare, & Mutuo dare: To give freely, and to lend freely: The one whereof is mentioned by our Saviour in this place, Luk. 6.35. and not the other: but verſ. 34. and that moſt uncivilly, Uſury is ſtept into the Room of its contrary, Free Lending; and thus ſtrangely maintained by this my Adverſary's Remark.
2. That, though we read ſometimes this Phraſe in the holy Bible, Thou ſhalt not give him thy Money to Uſury, Lev. 25. And Pſal. 15.5. (in ſome Tranſlations) He that giveth not his Money to Uſury, inſtead of put forth: yet we muſt not be ſo ſimple, as this Champion is, as to gather from ſuch places, that Lending is Giving properly; and that the Uſurer practiſeth an Act of Giving, becauſe he indenteth, expecteth, and looketh for the Return of ſuch things as are delivered: And the Giver never looketh for any ſuch things as he gave to be returned. For ſo Donation is by (a)Doctor Fregius in Rudim. Inſtit. p. 327.Civilians defined. Donatio eſt promiſſio aut traditio alicujus rei eâ mente facta, ut accipientis fiat & exerceatur liberalitas. That is, Donation is a promiſe, or delivery of a thing, with a mind that it be his who takes it (and ſo conſequently, be not returned) and that thereby Liberality be exerciſed.
As for his bragging Addition, which, if granted, overthrows his whole Fabrick he builds thereon, I look on it as a meer Chimaera; and tell him aforehand, that that which I ſhall build on that Fabrick, Luk. 6.35. will make his heart ake before he will ſee it overthrown. But of that, as he, ſo ſhall I ſay, more hereafter. So that all this while the Champion has gotten no advantage at all, much leſs a Victory, by his Charge, but rather a mark of Diſgrace; not being able to make good his Aſſault, in which he has been ſhamefully repulſed, and beaten back.