Usury Stated Overthrown, Treatise · Transcriptions
TRANSCRIPTS Annexed againſt USURY: Stated, 1. Out of the Inſtitutions of the *Which is ſo old as that that Ancient Emp…our Juſtinian in his time did comprize it in a little Book ſaith Franc. Mancinus ad Gambarum. Who ſo highly prizeth it.Canon Law reviewed by John Paul, Lancelot the Peruſine. The 4. Book. The 7. Title of Uſury.
USury is whatſoever beyond the borrowed Principal is taken, Num. 20.that is, ſaith the †Joh. Baptiſ….Expoſitor of this Deſcription, is taken by a compact for loane. And
The Sacred Canons do proſecute Uſurers with a multiplicity of puniſhments. For, beſides that they brand them with Infamy, they do not admit them to the ‖T…t is to the receiving of the Sacrament of the Euchariſt. Inn. And the Expoſitor addeth, that an Ʋſurer muſt not be preſent in the Church when Sacred things and Services are there performed. Cap. 1. Eod. in 6.Communion, nor will they let any receive Oblations at their hands. And if they be of the Miniſtery, they ſhall hazard both their Office and their Eccleſiaſtical Benefices.
And yet farther, None may under the puniſhment in the *Quid ſit ſatisfacere, vide …. 1 F. qui ſat. cog.Gregorian Conſtitution comprized ſet unto Vſurers any houſes, or if any be ſet, let them have them. And if any dye in that Crime, they ſhall be deprived of Eccleſiaſtical Burial. And this holds ſo firm, as that if Vſurers, when they are dying, ſhall in their laſt Will require *Quid ſit ſatisfacere, vide …. 1 F. qui ſat. cog.ſatisfaction to be made for Vſury taken, expreſſing a certain quantity, or indiſtinctly, yet till ſatisfaction be made they ſhall be unburied. But if any contrary to the ſaid Sanction ſhall dare to bury them, they ſhall be liable to the puniſhments by the Lateran Council promiſed. Their laſt Wills and Teſtaments alſo made *Scilicet nonfacta ſatisfactione nec Idonea praeſtita Cautione. John Bap.otherwiſe than according to the foreſaid Conſtitution, ſhall be of no Validity, but Ipſo facto ſhall be void: * nor will it avail any thing, if any do alledge that to redeem Captives, or to give Alms he lent upon Uſury. Foraſmuch as the Uſurer is not to be diſpenſed the more for that, becauſe a man may not lawfully make a lie to ſave anothers life, nor to rob. So bitter this Law is againſt the Uſurer; What the Canonical Law here ſaith next, is of Reſtitution to be made, not only by the Uſurers themſelves, but alſo by their Heirs; Where this Law ſaith further thus: That if a man have borrowed mony upon Uſury, and have ſworn to the Uſurer not to call for it again; yet the Judge may by an Eccleſiaſtical cenſure, compel the Uſurer both to deſiſt from exacting Uſuries, and to remit the Oath, and alſo to reſtore what he has exacted, that none may gain by deceit and fraud, ſo exceeding ſtrict is this Law: But yet it doth not take away a ‖Non inducit liberam remiſſionem. Idem Iohn Bap.free forgiving of Uſury mony to be reſtored, ſaith the Expoſitor of this Law.
2. The ſecond Tranſcript is out of the famous Doctor Jer. Taylors Duct. Dubit. added to the Canon Law, becauſe ſome will be ready to ſay, obſerving the dreadfulneſs, and bitterneſs of this Law, what are theſe Canons to us Proteſtants? therefore I ſubjoyn this great and renowned Proteſtant Doctor, his *Doctor Jeremy Taylor. in Duct. Dubit. L. 3. C. 3. mihi p. 196.words are: In things permitted for the hardneſs of mens hearts, or for publick neceſſity, the permiſſion of the Prince is no abſolution from the Authority of the Church, ſuppoſing Vſury to be unlawful. Civil Laws permit Vſury (meaning ſome, not all) and the Church forbids it, in Caſe the CANONS are to be preferred. For, tho it be permitted, yet by Law no man is compelled to be an Vſurer. Let the Reader read the reſt in the third Tranſcript out of holy Mr. †Greenham p. 41. In his Works.Greenham, who ſaith: Uſury is the Devil's Miſtery to turn Silver into Gold: It is a ſin that has many Advocates and Patrons. They ſay, to the poor give freely, to the mean lend freely, of the rich take Uſury. The Lord was never the Author of this Diſtinction. †Which is proved by Scripture Rom. 3.8.Deut. 23.19. The Jew of a Jew might not take Uſury; but the link of a Chriſtian is neerer than of a Country. Their brotherhood was by Country, ours is by Redemption. See the reſt in his Works.
A Fourth, Out of the renowned and pious R. *Richard Capel. in his Oppon. to Ʋſury.Capel. ſaying, Ainſwoth obſervs that Uſury is fitly called biting, becauſe it biteth and conſumeth the borrower and his ſubſtance, and very few takers to Uſury ſave their own by it, but the moſt of them are utterly undone and bitten, as it were, to Death by it. Doctor Rainhald (then whom the world hardly ever ſaw a better man and a better Scholar,) in his Book of Divorce. p. 8. Holds this Diſtinction between biting and not biting Uſury, uſed by ſome late Divines, but a meer Flam. The beſt and beſt learned of our Prelatical and Antiprelatical Divines, ſaith he, (naming in his Margin Jewel, Andrew, Doctor Py. B. Downam, Fenton, Bolton) have taken good and great pains to prove Uſury to be a thing utterly unlawful. Mr. Dod makes it a breach of the eighth Commandment; even †As alſo doth the Canon Law.Theft. And Ʋddal in his Obed. of the Goſpel is ſo ſevere and ſharp againſt Uſury, as that there he ſaith, that it is as clear in the World, that Uſury is a ſin, as that Chriſt came into the World to ſave Sinners. Now here if any being contentious, and a Defendant of Uſury; let him quarrel with theſe holy men, and the ancient Canons of the ancient Fathers. For their words I tranſcribe here, they are not mine, and therefore let them chide with them why they will be ſo bitter, ſo cenſorious, ſo harſh in their Writings againſt Uſurers: Let him contend and diſpute it with Ainſworth, the old Mr. Dod, with the learned Capel. with B. Jewel, B. Andrew, B. Downam, with bleſſed and holy Bolton, with the the unanſwered Doctor Py, with that incomparable Doctor Rainols, with the renowned Doctor Taylor: With all the beſt learned Prelatical and Antiprelatical Divines in England; and with Ʋddal eſpecialy, why he will offer to ſay that it is as clear that Uſury is a ſin, as that Chriſt came into the World to SAVE SINNERS.
And ſo I will leave him quarrelling with theſe men, let him come off as well as well as he can, and I will ſay no more but this: As David in old time. Pſal. 139.5. Thou haſt beſet me behind and before: So the poor Uſurer whom David condemns, may ſay to the Lord, now thou haſt beſet me, O Lord, now, behind, in the end of this writing againſt me, by all theſe men, who bring not only their own words, but thine alſo againſt me; and before too, thou haſt beſet me by that which in the beginning of this Writing is ſaid out of both thy Teſtaments, even new as well as old, and ont of all ſorts of Writers ancient and recent. Good Lord, deliver me from this Uſury, I humbly and heartily pray thee, Amen, Amen.
A fift out of the Famous *Edward Cook in his 3. part of his Inſtitutions of the Laws of England Edit cap. 70. Eliz. 13. And Jac. c. 17.Edward Cook, by whom Uſury is thus well ſtated againſt Uſury ill ſtated, by T. P. Uſury is directly againſt the Law of God, Pſal. 15.5. Deut. 23.19. Ezek. 18.12, 13. And ch. 22. And the reaſon why it was permitted to an Hebrew, or to an Infidel, was becauſe it was a means, either to exterminate them, or to depauperate them. Thus he.
And again againſt all Uſury he writes thus; and its adjudged by Authority of Parliament that ALL VSVRY, being forbidden by the Law of God, is a ſin and deteſtable; and he adds that alſo it is enacted by Parliament, that ALL VSVRY (N. 3. twice) is unlawful, that is to ſay againſt the Laws of the Realm.