Usury Stated Overthrown, Treatise · Part 2 · Section 38 – Section 39
NVM. XXXVIII.
Deſcript. 3. But I muſt ſpeed it, to advance to the Third Deſcription of Vſury, which is▪ That it is a moſt infamous thing; to defend it againſt my fierce Antagoniſt, who replieth, Mr. Jelinger quoteth. That whereas others in Writings under-write themſelves either Husbandmen, or Spinſters, from their Callings; the Vſurer is aſhamed to call himſelf an Vſurer. This part concerneth only thoſe that make a Trade of Vſury, and have no other Calling to take up their time and thoughts with: and ſuch were they whom Auſtin calls ſhabbed. After which Words, the cites Rivet again to the ſame effect. Whereunto, together with all that he ſaith beſides, I ſhall anſwer, I hope, fully. And,
1. That partly it concerneth ſuch; for, my (a)Qui ex profeſſo Foenerat non ſerri debet in Eccleſia. Poole in Ezech. 18.8.Brethren and I ſay the ſame that Rivet ſaith, in part, That ſuch as will lend out of a lazie humour, becauſe they will not be taken up with a Calling, are much to be blamed above others, and not at all excuſable. But whereas he goeth farther, and adds, But ſuch as out of an impotency of Merchandizing, or Neceſſity, as Widows, Orphans, aged Students, and the like, who are otherwiſe taken up with other Functions; if they enter ſuch Compacts as offend (b)The reſt the Learned may read in Rivet himſelf.not &c. I cannot aſſent to that, becauſe I do not ſee it proved, what is ſaid, as it ſhould be proved, quia ſub Judice lis eſt, becauſe it is a thing controverted, what is ſaid for Orphans and Widows, and muſt be diſputed when Objections come to be anſwered, and by name that which concerns (c)Becauſe ſome Learned men plead for Orphans much, as Calviſius, Simler, and others.Orphans and Widows. At preſent I will cite bleſſed (d)Bolton, p. 48.Bolton, againſt my Adverſaries Citation out of Rivet: But what ſay ye to the Caſe of Orphans? What ſhall become of Fatherleſs Children, Widows, and diſtracted men of their Wits? Suppoſe all theſ… for their Maintenance have a Stock of Money left them, and they be not able to employ it. (as Rivet writeth) how ſhall they be maintained, but by the Vſe of it? For if they ſpend of their Stock, what will become of them when their Stoc… is gone?
To this that holy man Bolton (a)As I alſo do in this Tract.anſwers,
1. I might well be excuſed from anſwering this Objection at this time, becauſe our common Vſurers, againſt whom I no… purpoſely deal and diſpute, are not Babes and Mad-men, ercept it be ſpiritually, but many times of great underſtanding and wiſdom.
2. If Vſury be ſinful in it ſelf, it is evil in all, though in ſome more, and ſome leſs: If it be forbidden in God's Book, as it is in many places directly and clearly, what Circumſtances Good meanings, Motives, Ends, or any thing, can ma… it lawful, except the Royal Prerogative of the mighty Lord of Heaven and Earth, who is the Law-giver, and whoſe holy Will is the Rule of Juſtice, interpoſe, and declare the contrary.
Though therefore the Relief of the Fatherleſs and Widow… be good, yet muſt it not be done by USURY; for that is to do evil that good may enſue which is condemned by the Holy Ghoſt, Rom. 3.8. Thus far bleſſed and learned Bolton; wh… alſo proveth (b)Which is alſo ſo proved by Biſhop Downa…n.what he ſaith by the Word of God, whi… neither the Champion nor his Author doth. Now let the Reader chuſe whom he thinks and judges to be in the right to follow.
2. I anſwer what he ſaith of St. Auſtin's skabbed Vſurers, That they were ſuch as lived without a Calling, deſiring him to prove it, that he ſpeaketh of ſuch, and no other; which I know he cannot do: for ſome Miniſters in his time were Vſurers too, as he ſaith upon Pſal. 15.5. even as now alſo ſome are, who take up a double Calling, the Miniſterial and the Vſurer's Calling: So that St. Auſtin calling the Vſurer skabbed, doubtleſs calls him not ſo becauſe he is idle, as ſome are, living without an honeſt Calling, but for ſome other cauſe alſo, becauſe he takes no pains for the Gains which he gets by his Money, but leaves that to the Borrower; and becauſe he infects, by his lending upon Vſury, others, as a skabbed Sheep infects many; for though he be a Paſtor in ſome reſpect, yet he is a Sheep too in another. And how doth he infect, you will ſay, others, like a skabbed Sheep? I anſwer,
1. By his Doctrine, being a Defendant for and of Vſury; ſo he ſpoileth many, who will believe him rather, ſpeaking for their Worldly Gain, than holy Bolton, who crieth out againſt their unjuſt and unlawful Gain, which they get by the Silver Shrines of their Goddeſs Diana, Vſury, I mean.
2. By bad Example: for men, for the moſt part, are like Jacoh's Sheep, Gen. 30. led by the eye, and conceive as they ſee, and ſay, If Vſury were ſuch a grievous and dangerous thing as ſome make it, ſuch wiſe, able, and learned Miniſters would not practice it. [Here they name thee, that art a Miniſter and a Vſurer too, and ſo art, I will not ſay a double-beneficed man, becauſe haply thou haſt not one, but a man that has a double Calling, the Calling I mean of a Preacher, and the quaſi Calling of an Vſurer: ſo I ſpeak to any Miniſter that is an Vſurer; and therefore let no particular man take exception at my word, for I name none, but others do name ſome.
NUM. XXXIX.
3. I anſwer; Though the Champion ſaith nothing directly to my Speech concerning the Vſurer, That he is aſhamed to call himſelf an Vſurer, whereas others in their Writings underwrite themſelves either Husbandmen, or Clothiers, or Spinſters; yet will I ſay a little more to and of that, viz. That others alſo, as well as my ſelf, have uſed the like Language, to ſhew what an infamous thing Vſury is: For ſo Dr. Fenton; He that is an Uſurer, if you ask what he is, or of what Profeſſion he is of, he will not gladly own that Name: Mens Conſciences are more troubled at the Name, than at the Practiſe of a Sin. But moſt commonly he is called (and ſo will be called, ſay I) one that liveth by his Money; and that is without all exception: For, as the Gentleman liveth upon his Rents, the poor Labourer upon the Sweat of his Brow, the Merchant and Tradeſman upon their Adventures, Skill, and Induſtry; the Huſbandman and Graſier upon the Increaſe of the Earth, and Breed of Cattel: ſo the Vſurer liveth upon his Money, that yeans, and foals, and calves to him, once in Six Months at …artheſt. What a Fool then was Ariſtotle, to call Money barren, which yields a double Harveſt at the leaſt every Year, and the form …r Crop maketh the Seed-corn for the next?
4. I ſay, That becauſe the Champion takes no notice to divers other things alſo, which I mention, becauſe he is lot… to hear of them, I will ſay a little the more yet, beſides all that; as namely, That whereas they ſay, that I onelyonly, and ſome few moroſe and ſimple Miniſters, that do not know what belongs to City-Trade, and Merchandizing, and the Worlds Affairs, go to make Uſury ſo infamous, ſo that the Champion doth not think it to be worth the anſwering what I have ſaid; I will therefore cite ſome of the wiſeſt Heads that have been in the World, who make Uſury as infamous as it can be made, viz.
1. (a)Plutarch de non Foenerando.Plutarch ſaith, That the Publican was a moſt infamous Perſon, and that Uſurers play the Publicans.
2. (b)Petrach. de Remed. utriuſque Fort. l. 1. dial. 56.Petrarch alſo writeth, as I have read it in him, That there is not a more filthy Study than that of Uſury; and that in former times Uſurers were ſeparated as Lepers from the Society of Man. And I am aſhamed to tell what woful Names (c)Copernicus.Copernicus calls Uſurers, and therefore will not relate his words.
3. (d)Geminianus Sur. l. 8.Geminianus tells us, That even the Notaries which make Uſury-Bonds and Writings, by it are made infamous, and loſe their Office.
4. (e)Lutherus de Taxanda Uſura, To. 7.Caeſar himſelf, who, as a General, was verſed in all Military Affairs, and did march thorow many Kingdoms and Countries, and ſubdued them, and came to know thereby all their Dealings and Affairs, and, as an Emperour and Supreme Magiſtrate, ruling and governing the whole World, could not but be inſighted in all Civil Affairs too, did make a Decree, That a Uſurer ſhould not be counted an honeſt man; So that I hope, that as Geneva was conquered and ſubjected by this Caeſar, in the days of (f)The Chief Leader of the Swizers riſing againſt the Romans in Caeſar's time, as Carion reports it in his Chron.Orgentorixe; ſo Uſury, which was of late years ſo ſet up and defended by ſome at Geneva, will be made more infamous than it has been yet, and ſo conſequently much left, conquered, and put down, by his Authority, Sayings, Sentences, and Decrees, in the World hereafter, when his Fame ſhall be ſo ſpread abroad, together with his Succeſſors Decree againſt diſhoneſt and infamous Uſury.