Usury Stated Overthrown, Treatise · Part 2 · Section 32
NUM. XXXII.
But I ſee I muſt come to a new Engagement; for thus he ſets upon me, with all fierceneſs and incivility, which he ſhews in all his Pamphlet, occaſioning thereby a very learned and godly man to ſay, That he did not act like a Man, nor like a Chriſtian, much leſs a Miniſter.
I ſay, he aſſaults me thus.
Having made a ſhort and jeering Preamble firſt, he addeth, We are beholden to him in the next place, that he would let us ſee what manner of thing Uſury is, by its Deſcription. Then on he cometh, charging me, That either I am miſled, or would miſlead others, by my wonted confuſion; and that I rake together whatſoever was ſpoken by any againſt groſſeſt Cheats, Oppreſſions, and Exactions, that have paſſed under the name of Uſury, and diſtribute the ſame with a name and puniſhment attending equally to the moſt oppreſſive Uſury, and to the moſt moderate taker of Uſe for Money lent, with what conſcience let him look to it.
Whereunto I anſwer,
1. That I wiſh he were not miſled himſelf, nor did miſlead others, by his wonted confounding of Rents, Setting and Letting, Buying and Selling, Intereſt and Damage, with Lending upon Uſury; which things are of a diſparate nature.
2. I do no more rake, as he ſaith I do, than the Holy Prophets, ancient Fathers, and Authors and godly Writers newly riſen up againſt that great Idol, which they call Uſury in general, not naming the groſſeſt Oppreſſions, Frauds, Exactions, that paſſed under the name of Uſury, and that any Uſurers have ever practiſed the ſame: I ſay, in [a]As my Book ſheweth.like manner and as they diſtribute Blame and Puniſhments, ſo do I, as I ought, giving to every one his due, according to 2 Tim. 2.15. telling Uſurers, That the more oppreſſive they have been, the greater will be their Damnation; and the more moderate, the leſs: So that I ſhall not need to trouble my ſelf about the cloſe of this his Charge, With what conſcience let him ſee to it. But let us ſee how he goes on.
Mr. Jelinger. 1. Uſury is a moſt abominable thing. Reply. No doubt it is, and has been, as ſome have handled it: but where is the abomination, or incongruity to Reaſon or Nature, if my Money being improved by anothers Pains or Skill, prove gainful to us both? What he brings here, and elſewhere, from the Fathers, and Heathen, againſt Uſury, reſpects the Practice of it in their days, which doubtleſs was bad enough, &c.
Whereunto my Anſwer is, That I have cauſe and grounds enough to ſay, that Uſury, as it is ſpoken of and againſt, without his Addition and Interpretation (as ſome have handled it) is an abomination, or thing to be abhorred, as the [b]A thing to be abhorred.Hebrew is rendred by Dr. Luther, a Grewel in Dutch: (where note, that the old Verſion alſo calls it an abomination, an offendicle, in Ezech. 20. even a thing to be abhorred by all men) which that the Reader may not too much take notice of, he conceals in his Reply the Lord's calling Uſury an Abomination; as alſo he [c]Which will make me to deal ſo by his new Writers alſo, and not to ſet down their Sayings at large, to be the ſhorter in my Anſwers.leaves out the moſt remarkable Expreſſions of the Authors and Fathers cited by me, viz. thoſe of St. Auſtin, How odious and how execrable the ſin of Ʋſury is, I believe Uſurers themſelves do know, (not telling us of Extortioners, and griping Uſurers.) And Biſhop Jewel he leaves out alſo, who calls Uſury the foul and loathſom ſin of Uſury: And [d]Petrus Cantor.Petrus Cantor he omits, who tells us, That the Uſurer's Houſe (mark, the Uſurer's Houſe in general) was in old time called the Devil's Houſe, and his Field the Devil's Field. Whereunto I will now annex a Codicil of more ſuch Writers, to render Uſury yet more abominable: And by name I will mention theſe three modern Authors.
And 1. (a)Dr. Beard in the Theatre of God's Judgments, page 476.Dr. Beard: Seeing then it is ABOMINABLE both by the Law of God and Nature, let us ſhun it as a Toad, and fly from it as a Cockatrice.
2. (b)The Author of Uſuries Arraignment.One alſo writes of Uſurers, not naming any griping ones, but Uſurers in general, (as I do) thus: Thoſe that travel in the Low-Countries ſay, That the Uſurer is ſo baſely accounted of, (and conſequently is ſo abominable and ſo odious there) as that no body will be in his company; and you ſhall ſooner get one to a Brothel-houſe, than to a Uſurer's.
3. (c)Peroldus de Avaritia, to. 2. p. 68.Peraldus, to make the Uſurer and his ſin odious, according to its deſerving, tells us, 1. That he is like a Toad which liveth by the Earth, and will get out of a Vineyard when it flouriſheth and buds, not being able to endure the ſweet odour of it: anſwerably whereunto, ſaith he, the Uſurer is for Earth, and leaveth the Church, becauſe he cannot abide the hearing of the Word. Which we know to be true by Obſervation; for they will not hear a Miniſter that preacheth the Word of God againſt Uſury. They ſerved me ſo, when I preached my Fifteen Sermons againſt Uſury, at my Kings-Bridge Lecture.
Now that it may not be thought that he ſpeaks of and againſt griping Uſurers and Uſury only, and not againſt the moderate, ſee his Definition quoted in the (d)Idem ibid. p. 6, 7.Margin; and (e)Cicero.Cicero, who reckons Uſury among odious Callings.
But I deſire to bring more ancient Doctors, beſides theſe later.
And 1. (f)In Mat. 28.St. Jerome, who, to make Uſury odious, tells us, That there is no difference between ſeeking after Uſury, and Rapine, or Robbing. And leſt men ſhould think that he ſpeaks ſo liberally againſt griping, exacting, oppreſſive Uſurers and. Uſury only, he ſaith further, Lend to thy Brother, and receive of him again as much as thou haſt given, and ſeek nothing over and above, (which he calls Superfluum) becauſe what is more, is computed to be USURY.
With which ſaying of his, 2. Peter Lombard, the Father of the Schoolmen, ſweetly ſymphonizeth, by a Sentence of his, which I have read in time long ago: viz. In the Eighth Commandment, Exod. 20. Thou ſhalt not ſteal, RAPINE alſo and Sacrilege are prohibited, and USURY, WHICH IS CONTAINED UNDER RAPINE. So odious was Uſury in the Schools in old time; and ſo I leave it as it is, even as a great ABOMINATION, which God hateth, abominateth, and abhorreth.
Nor can his new Writers anſwer them, nor (in the ſecond place) be able to ſtop the mouthes of ſuch great and moſt Learned men (God's own eſpecially) while the World ſtands; becauſe they neither do nor can prove what they aſſert of that which intrinſecally is in Uſury, and that which is plerunque, that is, commonly, (which meerly maketh againſt thoſe Authors) is preſent with it; and becauſe they would make us believe, that the Fathers had reſpect, in their Sentences againſt Uſury, unto that Uſury which too much prevailed, and was taken in all Ages, againſt Equity, Honeſty, Charity, and Faith: when it's well known to my Brethren, and my ſelf alſo, who have diligently read, obſerved, and extracted the Volumns of the Holy Fathers, from the beginning to the end thereof, and have accordingly in this Tract ſhewn it, what Uſury they have been againſt, viz. not only griping and moſt cruel biting Uſury, but all Overplus ſought and taken.
As to that of St. Chryſoſtom in Matth. There is nothing more cruel than the Uſury of this Age, nothing baſer; it will not at all evince what he would prove by it, viz. That the Fathers uttered ſuch heavy things only againſt the moſt cruelly biting Uſury of their Ages; becauſe, as other Fathers, ſo he ſpeaks againſt all, as well as that moſt cruel Uſury which he mentioneth; yea, and declareth againſt Uſury in general (a)In Matth. 17.more than any of them all, as far as I could ſee, when I read him over; inſomuch as that,
1. He compareth ſome Uſury to a (b)Id. ibid.Serpent, called Aſpis, which inſenſibly ſtings and poyſons, and ſo brings a man ſweetly aſleep; anſwerably whereunto, he ſaith, that when a man has once taken up Money upon Uſury, he liveth pleaſantly upon it (Mark, PLEASANTLY) for a time, &c. which a man cannot do when he is cruelly bitten; but at Si… in the Hundred, which they count moderate Uſury, ſome may and do.
2. But this is not all: for he ſaith withal in general, USURY was ever judged a token of extreme Impudence, &c.
3. He ſpeaketh further; (a)Ibid.A great Sickneſs, and needing much ſtudy, (which maketh me ſtudy as hard as I can, I am ſure) namely, Uſury. Mark, Uſury in general, which he calls a great Sickneſs. And,
4. (b)The Learned may read all that he writeth againſt Ujury there, p. 437, 438, 439.He ſaith, What more IRRATIONAL can be found out, than for thoſe (he ſpeaks to the Uſurer) to contend to plow without a Field, without Rain, and without a Plough? for thoſe cauſes, thoſe that ſow ſo, ſhall reap Tares, which ſhall be delivered up to the aeviternal Fire. And,
5. He ends thus: Are there no other ways of living JUSTLY to be found out? He might have ſaid, if he had been for moderate Uſury, as this Champion and ſome of his Brethren are, Cannot you leave that griping Uſury, and practice that which is more moderate? But he does not; he is againſt all.