Usury Stated Overthrown, Title page – Dedication 2
USURY STATED OVERTHROWN: OR, USURIES CHAMPIONS With their Auxiliaries, Shamefully Diſarmed and Beaten: By an Anſwer to its chief Champion, which lately appeared in Print to defend it. AND GODLINESS EPITOMIZED
By Chriſtopher Jelinger, M. A.
Beza upon Matth. May a Man with a ſafe Conſcience lend upon Uſury? No ſurely.
And Holy Uſher, Arch-Biſhop of Armagh, in his Body of Divinity, pag. 300.
Q. What is that which we call Uſury? It is Lending in expectation of certain Gain. So he well ſtateth it againſt Uſury ill…ſtated by T. P.
Q. What do you think of it? If we ſpeak of that properly, which the Scripture condemneth, it is a moſt wicked and unlawful Contract; which if we live and die in, without Repentance, we are excluded out of the Kingdom of Heaven. Pſal. 15.1, 5. Ezek. 18.12, 13. and Chap. 22.
But there is much queſtioning, which is that Uſury which the Scripture condemneth. Therefore it will be our wiſdom wholly to forbear it, and not to put our Souls, which are of more value than the whole World, upon nice Diſcourſes, and ſubtil Diſtinctions. Thus this Holy Man.
Plato in Gor. fol. 313.
Non de rebus parvis inſtituta eſt Diſputatio, ſed de his, quas & ſcire pulcherrimum eſt, & neſcire foreign, turpiſſimum.
LONDON, Printed for J. Wright, at the Crown on Ludgate-Hill, and J. Sampſon, next the Wonder-Tavern in Ludgate-Street.
TO THE Moſt High and Mighty Monarch, CHARLES II. By the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, DEFENDER of the FAITH, Grace and Mercy be multiplied.
YOur Majeſty's Acceptance of a Treatiſe of Your moſt humble Servant tending to Immortality; and of a large Latin Poem, bidding Your Majeſty welcome into thoſe Weſtern Parts, in Your Royal Fort of Plymouth, emboldned me to offer and to dedicate theſe my Theological Labours alſo, which are compriſed in this Book; hoping that they will be Graciouſly accepted, as the former were: and that ſo much the rather, becauſe this ſaid Book brings to You, as to a Great King, that Great King whoſe Name is Jeſus, King of Kings, Rev. 19.16. to keep Your Majeſty Company in your Solitudes; and for Your Majeſty to ſpend your time with His great Majeſty both Day and Night, according to this Book, wherein Godlineſs is Epitomized; and wherein alſo are contained ſome Eſſays made againſt that odious, and far-ſpreading Sin of Ʋſury: which will need the Protection and Support of an excelſe and mighty Atlas to ſupport ſuch a weighty Frame, and ſubject Matter, becauſe it will meet with bitter and potent Adverſaries which will be ready to oppugne it, to keep their great Goddeſs Diana, Ʋſury I mean, and her Silver Shrines. Which hath neceſſitated me, in all Humility, to betake my ſelf to ſuch a mighty Shield as Your Majeſty's great Power and Protection is, under which a wary Combatant may lie invulnerable. Nor am I the firſt that made ſo bold as to dedicate a Book of this Nature to a King. When famous Biſhop Downam wrote againſt Ʋſury, upon Pſal. 15. as I do now, he dedicated his Book to the King of Scholars, King James; and it was accepted: Anſwerably hereunto, I promiſe my ſelf a Gracious Acceptance likewiſe. But I deſire to end with praying to the King of Kings, that Your Majeſty may be kept by His mighty Power and Protection from all Treacherous Conſpiracies; may long ſway the Sceptre of your three Kingdoms in Halcyon Days; and after that Your Majeſty hath ſuperated the ſpaces of your Humane Life, you may, being elevated to the Horizon of future Felicity, and entranced into Heaven, there reign alſo, as one of the Kings of that other World, with the King of Kings, 2 Tim. 3.12. Rev. 2.20. far ſcattering the bright ſhining Rays of your Inenarrable Glory. Amen.
Your Great Majeſty's Obedient, Loyal, and Moſt Humble Subject, and Orator to the Throne of Grace, Chriſtopher Jelinger.
To His Grace, Chriſtopher, Duke of Albemarle, Lieutenant General of Devon, and one of His Majeſty's moſt Honourable Privy Council, Grace and Peace from Jeſus Chriſt, the Prince of Princes.
VVHen Your Grace's and this Kingdom's Father was flouriſhing and living upon Earth, It pleaſed him to caſt a favourable Aſpect on me, the unworthieſt of all God's Miniſters; ſo as that I could not but mind you, his Honourable Son and Heir, alſo, in the publiſhing of this Book, by a moſt humble Tender, and Dedication of it to your Honourable Self, and to your great Name; and that ſo much the rather for this too, becauſe you are the General of our Weſtern Militia, and this Treatiſe conſiſts of Fighting, and ſets forth a Battel (a Paper Battel I mean) fought in the Weſt of England, whereof you are a General, between two Weſtern Warriers, Pro and Con, about the thing called Uſury; of whom, one, who is a profeſſed Enemy to it, deſireth to put himſelf, firſt under the great God's, and next under your Grace's Protection, by this moſt humble Dedication: wiſhing withal, by a Digreſſion, that, becauſe ſuch a Paper Battel is too low for ſo great a Perſon to take any great notice of it; I ſay, wiſhing that your Grace may mind much more that Spiritual Militia, which is called Wraſtling with the God of Heaven for Heaven, which is held forth in and by Godlineſs Epitomized, which is a piece and part of this Book; ſo as to practiſe it during your Natural Life here on Earth, for the gaining of Eternal Life hereafter in Heaven.
But not being contented with wiſhing only, your Graces moſt humble Servant deſires to fall a praying for your Grace thus.
The Great Majeſty of Heaven enable, ſtrengthen and animate your Grace with his Grace ſo ſucceſsfully to wreſtle for Heaven in Prayer, as that when you ſhall have ſuperated the ſpaces of your Humane Life, you may, being born in the Arms of Angels, be carried up to the Head of Angels, the Lord Jeſus, who is the Generaliſſimus of all Generals and Chriſtian Soldiers, and for ever ſheweth forth the Rays of his pleaſant Face to the Veſſels of Mercy which are deſtinated to ever-during Glory. So ends with Prayer,
Your Graces Moſt Humble Servant, and Orator to the Throne of Grace, Chriſtopher Jelinger. A Palatine Exul for Religion's ſake.