Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1875-09-11
VIRGINIA TREE PRESS.
/. D. &R.V B. GlLLAHIR. EDITORS
harlestown, Jefferson Co., w. Va.
OFFICE IN "JEFrERsoN BUmDING." D."
saturday. September Il, 1875.
What the Bible and the Philosophers
Say about Usury.

IUS or THE FREE Press: In the three eN-
tracts, heretofore published in your columns
from L. II. Haywood, it must be plain 10 all
" .cLose moral sense is not perrerted by legal
and customary fraud" that us'ry is, on all
principles of right and justice, indefensible,
and the true cause of the ignorance, poverty,
and decentralization OF the human race. There
is no hope for men until this monster evil and
crime is utterly extirpated, aud men compelled
to live on their own aud not the labors and
earnings of others will trouble you to pub
lish. for the information of both saints and SIN
ners, another, In which your readers will fud
what has been thought and said Of tins hugest
Of all inigmties both in the Bible, and by the
ablest and best men in all ages.
JNo. \. Thomson.
Summit Point, August 80, 1875.
"To prove a thing essentially wrong, is
quite enough to convince those whose moral
sense is not perverted by legal and customary
fraud but so many fiud a rule of faith and
practice in Traditional authority, it is well to
Show that what are called inspired writings
condemn interest; the most emphatic among
which, are the denunciatons of the Christian
Bible "Take thou no usury Of thy brother !;
but fear thy God. Thou shall not give thy mo-
ney upon usury nor lend thy victuais for in-
crease. Lev. ch. 26, v. SO. "Thou shalt not
lend on usury to thy brother. .'--Deut. CHI %,
V. 10. Lord who shall abide in thy taberna-
Gle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He
that walketh uprightly and worketh righteous-
ness-be that pu'te'h not ont his money to IL
sury.'-Ps 10, Y. !, 2, g. "Ho that hath not
given forth upon usury, neither taken any in
crease. hath withdrawn his band from iniqui-
ty, hath executed true judgment between man
and mamie is just, be shall surely live, saith
the Lord God. ."-EZek ch. IS, V. 6, Q. " II
We lend TO them of whom ye hope to receive,
what thank have ye? For sinners also lend
to sinners, to receive as much again. But
love ye your enemies, and lend hoping for no.
thing again aud ye shall be children Of the
Highest. Luke, ch. 6, V. "a, 35. To those
who quote in reply the parable of the usurious
lord and the example of Jews fleecing strau
gers have only to say, that, in shielding sin
lul practice behind scripture texts, they stand
with defenders Of chattle bondage, who thus
proved slavery a divine institution = with
advocates Of war, who preach Jesus and prac-
tice Joshua with polygamists OF Utah, and
keepers of brothes in our cities, who are good
" christians, because the wiseSt man Solo
mon, and other pstriarchs, had many wives,
and numerous concubines 0r fancy women,
as they are now called. Rightly interpreted
the Bible sanctions no such immoraities: bot
IL nd
usry The fellowship OF Bouddha, Ioroaster,
and Mahomet, and the Greek and Roman
churches, which compose very large majority
of the professedy religious world, all put usu
ry in the category Of forbidden sin.
Turning to philosophers and moralists,w we
first meet that proloundest of human reasoners,
Aristotle: Money a medium of exchange, Is
by nature sterile, and should have no lega
rigt TO increase except by passing through
some form of labor" Cato: " Usury is mur-
der" DR.. Wilson, an English writer Of 1863
Taking interest is greater crime than TAX
inc life; for while murder kills one, usnry
swallows whole families, communities and ma
tions" Mape: God, nature, reason, scrip
ture: all law, authors, and councils, are a
gainst usury." Fentou ut was never eren
deteHded for fifteen hundred years after Christ
St. Barrie "The gripping usurer gets his vic
tins hand to paper, aud completes bis wretch
edness. How so By dismssing him bereft
of liberty" Buxton {" The tired earth be-
comes barren only the uSTer's money, the
longer il breeds, the lustier; one hundred
pounds, put out twenty years since is grand
mother to two or three hundred children, prei-
M striDlings, able to beget their mother again
in a short time" Bacon Il" II exists through
the hardness Of mems hearts" Roman law
decreed it an aggravated species Of theft and
punished it with the utmost severity. English
law, from Alfred the Great TIL mOHied Gris-
tocrdcy subsidized the moral sense Of that peo-
pie and statutes in almost every American
State, bear the same testimony reli-
gion, history and legislati unite to condemn
usury as wroHg in principle and erfortf0H IN
practice But since the laws have recognized
as Just what are termed moderate rates Of in
tercst, and especially since the monopoly ofraw
materials aud currencies has made this time
houored eztortion possible, the widespread
aud unceasing protest against usury has gener-
~, k.ar,