The True Christians T est, Part 2 · Meditation 29
MEDITAT. XXIX. Of Humane Authorities against Uſury.
FOR my own part, I do not pretend to be a perſon of great Reading: But I have read the Books of ſome men, who have read many Books; and I verily think by what I have found in them, that the very quotations out of Books againſt Uſury, would of themſelves make a conſiderable Book. But I am reſolv'd not to large here, as depending rather upon the ſure Teſtimony already brought. As for my ſelf, I think if I had never ſo great a mind to a thing, and plauſible Arguments for it too, I ſhould hardly adventure upon a thing ſo univerſally condemn'd both by Heathens and Chriſtians, and theſe both Papiſts and Proteſtants, Councils, Fathers, and Modern Divines of the greateſt Reputation. The General Councils of Agatha, the firſt Nicene Council, the firſt Council of Arles, the firſt and ſecond of Carthage, the Eleberitan Council, the Council of Towres, and the Lateran Council, with others, are cited to this purpoſe, as condemning and cenſuring Uſurers more or leſs. The beſt Recorders of the matters of Primitive Times aſſure us, That the Perſon ſuſpected of Uſury, was deny'd the Common Salutations in the Streets, and the Kiſs of Charity in the Church; his Houſe, uſually call'd the Seat of Satan, and it was held unlawful ſo much as to fetch Fire from thence. But how much Fire is fetch'd from thence now adays, even to the conſuming of the Houſes, and Land too, of them that fetch it! It were endleſs almoſt to quote the Paſſages out of the Greek and Latine Fathers condemning Uſury, ſuch as Clemens Alexandrinus, Baſil, Gregory Nyſſen, Gregory Nazianzen, Chryſoſtom, Tertullian, Lactantius, Ambroſe, Jerome, Auguſtine, and many others. The Canon Law contained in the Decretals, and the Civil Law, gives the ſame Verdict: And our Statute Law, both in the time of the Britains, Saxons and Normans, until Edward the Sixth, is to the ſame purpoſe; for which I refer any one that has a mind to be particularly acquainted, to Dr. Fenton's Book written upon this Subject. The Heathen Writers generally tax it. Cato ſays, The Uſurer was condemned in a four-fold reſtitution by the Law. The Philoſophers, Plato, Ariſtotle, and the reſt, bring many Arguments againſt it. The Poets, after their manner, condemn it by Epithetes, calling it Uſura vorax, turpia lucra Foenoris, turpiter exhauriens privatas opes, depaſcens publica commoda; and the Uſurer with them is a man, Divitias injuſto Foenore quaerens. It would be Voluminous almoſt, to give in but the Names of Modern Divines (however different in their Perſuaſions concerning other things) that conſent in the cenſuring of Uſury. For both the Presbyterian Aſſembly of Divines in their Annotations, (and how many Eminent Divines there were in that Aſſembly I know not) and the Low-Countrey Divines, Select, Learned Men in their Annotations, and the Epiſcopal Divines in their Books, (ſome of which were written on purpoſe) do ſpeak to the ſame purpoſe, and do repreſent Uſurers, to be what Eraſmus in plain terms calls them, Perſonas odi…ſas. As for the Annotations, both Engliſh and Dutch, (in the compoſing of which, ſo many Famous Men were employ'd) I need not, ſave to refer any man thither, that has a mind to know their ſenſe. I will therefore conclude this Teſtimony with three of the moſt Learned Caſuiſts among the Biſhops of the Church of England, ſince the Reformation; Biſhop Jewel, Biſhop Andrews, Biſhop Sanderſon.
As for Biſhop Andrews, it is well known that he wrote a Theological Treatiſe, on purpoſe to condemn Ʋſ…ry; and that he wrote it in Defence of the Church of England, againſt the Slander that She lay under; ſo that he ſeems to ſpeak the mind of the whole Church of England, out of whom I will only obſerve what he quotes from Hottomannus, as to the Civil Law, (though he is otherwiſe full of Authorities and Arguments againſt Uſury.) From him he quotes theſe Maxims againſt Uſury.
That it is of the very eſſence of Lending, that it be free and gratuitous.
That Men are not to receive certain Profit, from uncertain Negotiation or Adventures.
That nothing of Gain is to be Exacted, where nothing is Exchanged.
That Society cannot ſubſist, without the communication of Damages and Hazards, as well as Profits.
That things that are conſumed in their Uſing, are not capable of Uſus fructus, which is the Uſe or Profit of what is anothers, the Propriety or Subſtance of the thing being ſtill the Owners.
That Humane Laws regulating the Exceſs of Uſury, do not invalidate the Divine Law abſolutely forbidding it.
Theſe things I have only briefly quoted out of him, to explain the Senſe of the Civil Law; and ſo I will diſmiſs him, becauſe it is an eaſie thing for any Conſcientious Man to have recourſe to the Book it ſelf.
But there is a Treatiſe of Biſhop Jewel, an Expoſition of the Epiſtles to the Theſſalonians, which poſſibly may be but in few hands, I will therefore tell more largely what he ſays to this Point. I preſume he is generally acknowledged to be a Learned and Pious Proteſtant; That he wrote Much and Well in the Defence of the Proteſtant Religion againſt Papiſts, his Book (which has the Honour to be kept in Churches with the Bible, and the Homilies) does declare; and that he was Exil'd for the Profeſſion of it, our Hiſtories do aſſure us. This Good and Learned Man, in his Sermons upon 1 Theſſ. 4. at Salisbury, takes an occaſion from the ſixth verſe to diſcourſe about Uſury, and ſays in plain terms, That it is ſuch a kind of Eargaining, as no Good or Godly Man ever us'd; a Monſter in Nature; the Overthrow of Kingdoms; the Plague of the World; and the Miſery of the People. And having ſhew'd what a bad Original it is of, and what woful Effects attend it, takes an occaſion from the fore-quoted paſſage of Cato, to ſhew in many reſpects, That the Uſurer is worſe than the Thief. And having largely quoted many Learned and Holy Fathers, ſuch as Ambroſe, Auguſtine, Chryſ…ſtome, Hierome, ſpeaking very poſitively and ſharply againſt Uſury, he adds, That there was never any Religion, nor Sect, nor State, nor Degree, nor Profeſſion of Men, but they have diſliked it. They are the very words in the Book, Philoſophers, Greeks, Latines, Lawyers, Divines, Catholicks, Hereticks, all Tengues and Nations have ever thought an Uſurer as dangerous as a Thief. And our Forefathers (ſaith he) ſo much abhor'd this Trade, that they thought an Uſurer unworthy to live in the company of Chriſtian men; they Excommunicated him, they ſuffer'd him not to be a Witneſs in matters of Law; they ſuffer'd him not to make a Teſtament, and to beſtow his Goods by Will; nor after his Death, to be buried in the Burying-place of Chriſtians. Towards the end of his Sermon, he calls God for a Record upon his Soul, That he has not deceived them, but had ſpoken unto them the Truth; and ſays, If I be deceived in this matter, O God, Thou hast deceived me; Thy Word is plain, Thou ſay'st, Thou ſhalt take no Uſury; and he that taketh Increaſe, ſhall not live. And, at laſt, applying himſelf to his Auditors, he adds theſe words, I hear that there are certain in this City which wallow wretchedly in this filthineſs, without Repentance: I give them Warning, in the Hearing of you all, and in the Preſence of God, that they forſake that cruel and deteſtable Sin; if otherwiſe they continue therein, I will open their Shame, and denounce Excommunication against them, and publiſh their Names in this place before you All, that you may know them and a…hor them as the Plagues and Monſters of the World.
If this vehement Teſtimony ſhould be leſs regarded, as being the Teſtimony of an Old-faſhioned Divine, as poſſibly ſome Novices will ſpeak; I will add a very late and learned one, a Profeſſor of Divinity, a profeſt Caſuiſt, whoſe learned Determinations in other Caſes, are taken for Oracles, even by thoſe very men, who refuſe to hearken to him in this. I mean Dr. Sanderſon, late Biſhop of Lincoln, who in his fourth Sermon Ad Populum, having told us, That moſt of the Learned have concluded Uſury ſimply unlawful, delivers his own judgment preſently after in theſe words: The Texts of Scripture are ſo expreſs, and the Grounds of Reaſon ſo ſtrong against all Uſury, that when I weigh theſe on the one ſide, and on the other ſide, how nothing at all that is, which I ever yet ſaw, or heard alledg'd to the contrary, I cannot find in my ſelf Charity enough to abſolve any kind of Uſury, with what Cautions or Circumſtances ſoever qualify'd, from being a Sin. And again, towards the end of that Diſcourſe, he ſays, It were not poſſible Uſurers ſhould be ſo bitterly inveigh'd against by ſober Heathen Writers, ſo ſeverely cenſur'd by the Civil and Canon Laws, ſo Uniformly condemn'd by Godly Fathers and Councils, ſo univerſally hated by all men of all Sorts, and in all Ages and Countries, (here upon the Margin he quotes Jer. 15. 10) as Hiſtories and Experience manifest they ever have been and are, if their Practice and Calling had been any way profitable, and not indeed every way hurtful and incommodious both to Private Men, and Publick Societies.