Usury Stated Overthrown, Treatise · Part 2 · Section 24
NUM. XXIV.
The Champion's next On-ſet, in the laſt part of his Definition, is, for loan of things which may be conſumed in the uſe thereof, from Deut. 23.1…. Reply. And what if Money be conſumed in the uſe thereof, ſeeing Houſes and Fields, Bargains and Wares remain, which were purchaſed by this Money conſumed? View this from another ſide, and you may take this Aſpect of it. If you have 100 l. you may not hire this out for gain; but if you will convert this Money into Fields, you may hire them out, and take yearly gain for your Fields, though not for your Money, &c. Thus he.
No more to the purpoſe is the ſelling of Wine, and the uſe thereof; foraſmuch as the Vintner doth and may take ſomewhat for his Wine above the Price laid out, and that is upon the account of his Money disburſed.
And here too Ames is before-hand with him; after whom he quoteth Rivet alſo: and ſo ends with triumphing, as if he had gotten a notable Victory, and left me in darkneſs, to come off as well as I could.
But foreign I hope to come off well enough, by anſwering all that he hath to ſay againſt me orderly. And,
1. Whereas he ſaith, What if Money be conſumed in the uſe thereof, ſeeing Houſes and Fields, Bargains and Wares remain, which were purchaſed with this Money conſumed? I anſwer,
1. That what I ſay herein, I aſſert, next unto that famous Scripture Deut. 23.19. where Money and Victuals are named, both which are conſumed in the uſe thereof, from more learned and renowned Men, than any he can name, or bring againſt me: For, what a Man is (a)Aquin. 2.2. q. 79. a. 1.Aquinas, who writes the ſame? And ſo (b)Doctor Sanders, fol. 3.Dr. Sanders, ſpeaking of things lent in Uſury, names Money, Oyl, Corn, Wine, and then addeth, Or any like thing, that is ſpent with the uſe thereof.
2. That here is a Confuſion indeed: The lending of 100 l. upon Uſury, is called hiring it out for Gain, as Houſes and Lands are, which are let out for Rent: For, as one ſaith notably, that is alſo a Phraſe of Speech which they have among themſelves, namely, that they Let their Money, and therefore call Uſury the Rent of their Money. Now Letting, ſaith famous (c)Melancthon, lib. Defin. Appell. & l. 2. F. locat. l. 1. Siquis ſervum depos.Melancthon, is a Contract whereby a thing is transferred for a certain time, for its uſe, but not as touching the Propriety; for a certain Price, and not for its Dominion: Whereas Uſury is no ſuch thing, becauſe the Money lent becomes the Borrower's Propriety, as has been ſhe… by Allegations; to which I will now add (a)L. 2. Appellat. ſi creditum F. ſi certum petatur, 3 Inſtit. quibus modis.one or two more. In Mutuation, or Lending, ſaith the Civil Law, there is … transferring of the Property and Dominion of the thing lent, for a certain time, from the Lender to the Borrower; whence Mutuum, or Lending, is ſo called, quod de meo fit tuum, Mine, thine, So (b)D. S. fol. 22.Dr. Sanders; Money is of thoſe things which are lent; and conſequently, he is not Lord of it that lent it, but he only which borroweth it.
3. anſwer, That whereas the Champion ſtandeth ſo upon this, That by Money conſumed in the uſe thereof, may be bought Houſes, Fields, Bargains, and Wares, which may be hired out, and for which I may take yearly Gain, though not for my Money. I anſwer,
1. That I may lawfully take Money for thoſe Houſes and Fields which I purchaſe with Money, which I have, becauſe I am not forbidden to do it by the Word of God; and Saints have paid Hire for things hired, as is to be ſeen Acts 28.30. which they would not have done, if ſetting to hire and letting had been unlawful. And laſtly, Becauſe if a thing be hired and hurt, the Hirer of it is not to make it good, if the Owner of it, who ſet it to hire, be with it; It came for his hire, ſaith the Lord, Exod. 22.18.
But for the Money which I lend, I may not take Gain, compacted for, or expected, becauſe that is interdicted, and Lending muſt be free, as formerly has been proved; And I add, That though the Money borrowed be converted into Fields, or Houſes, therewith purchaſed, yet it is illicit, becauſe the Uſurer doth not mind that: whether a Borrower buy a Houſe, Field, or Wares, or do not, he will have his Uſury, that is his ſin: whereas the Borrower, who buyeth a Houſe, or a Field, or Wares, for his need, with that Uſury-Money, ſins not; becauſe borrowing, eſpecially for need, (and not for (c)I add, And to waſte the Money lent: For then the Lender is not to end at all, nor the Borrower to borrow, as Stephen Egerton, who tranſlated Virel, aſſerts it, ſaying, If it be like that the Borrower will ſpend waſtfully that which he borrows, Money ought not to be lent, p. 137.covetouſneſs) is lawful by the Word of God, Exod. 22. and ſtrength of Reaſon, uſed by ſeveral Authors: of whom, at preſent, I will cite but one, viz. (a)Gabr. Powel, p. 102.G. Powel, whoſe words are theſe. For neceſſity it was lawful for Adam's Sons to marry with Adam's Daughters, becauſe there were no other Women. For neceſſity it was lawful to eat the Shew-bread, becauſe there was no other Food, 1 Sam. 21.6. For neceſſity it was lawful to work, to heal, to fight, upon the Sabbath-day, which was not lawful but for neceſſity. Therefore for neceſſity why may not a man pay more than he borrowed? Seeing no Scripture forbids to pay more, but to require more.
Seventhly, I will add (b)Hen. Smith in his ſecond Sermon upon Uſury.Mr. Smith: It is lawful to ſuffer injury, as Chriſt paid Tribute, which was injury: But it is not lawful to offer injury, becauſe there are ſix Commandments againſt it. Now to take Uſury, that is, as it were, to offer injury; but to give Uſury, is to ſuffer, as it were, injury: and therefore though I may not take more than I lent, yet I may give more than I borrowed.
Nor will his much ado about the converting of things lent, do him any good at all; becauſe ſeldom or never do men convert their borrowed Corn or Wine into a Purchaſe, becauſe they are things abſolutely conſumed in the uſe thereof; for we eat the one, and drink the other, which is the uſe thereof. And as for Money alſo, where one doth turn his Money borrowed into Fields, hundreds do not, but only ſpend it, and uſe it to ſave that they have, or to trade with it, though they gain but little by it; which notwithſtanding, the Uſurer will have his Uſe.