way or other be injurious unto us, we ought nevertheless to honour and
not to despise them. So Joseph did Mary, though he supposed her to have
dealt injuriously with him; and she had done so, indeed, if it had been
with her as he imagined. Calvin’s resolution concerning Luther was very
admirable in this respect. They differed much about the presence of
Christ in the sacrament; and Luther being of a vehement spirit, wrote
bitterly against those that did hold otherwise in that point than
himself did. This enforced some, who were more nearly concerned in the
business, to prepare to answer Luther; which Calvin understanding, and
fearing lest they, being provoked by Luther’s tartness, should deal with
him in the like kind, he wrote unto Bullinger, a prime man among them,
persuading and exhorting him to carry the business so as to show all due
respect unto Luther, considering what worth and excellency there was in
him, however he had demeaned himself in that particular. And he adds,
that he often used to say, that although Luther should call him devil,
yet he would do him that honour to acknowledge him a choice servant of
God.—_Christopher Cartwright._
_Verse 4.—“He honoureth them that fear the Lord.”_ I have read of one
that said, If he should meet a preacher and an angel together, he would
first salute the preacher and then the angel.—_Charles Bradbury’s
“Cabinet of Jewels,” 1785._
_Verse 4.—“He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.”_
“His words are bonds, his oaths are oracles;
His love sincere, his thoughts immaculate;
His tears pure messengers, sent from his heart;
His heart as far from fraud as heaven from earth.”
_William Shakespere._
_Verse 5._—The Puritanic divines are almost all of them against the
taking of any interest upon money, and go the length of saying that one
penny per cent. per annum will shut a man out of heaven if persisted in.
It appeared to me to be useless to quote opinions in which I cannot
agree, especially as this would occupy space better employed. The
demanding of excessive and grinding interest is a sin to be detested;
the taking of the usual and current interest in a commercial country is
not contrary to the law of love. The Jews were not engaged in commerce,
and to lend money even at the lowest interest to their fellow farmers in
times of poverty would have been usurious; but they might lend to
strangers, who would usually be occupied in commerce, because in the
commercial world, money is a fruitful thing, and the lender has a right
to a part of its products; a loan to enable a non-trader to live over a
season of want is quite another matter.—_C. H. S._
_Verse 5.—“He that putteth not out his money to usury.”_ By usury is
generally understood the gain of anything above the principal, or that
which was lent, exacted only in consideration of the loan, whether it be
in money, corn, wares, or the like. It is most commonly taken for an
unlawful profit which a person makes of his money or goods. The Hebrew
word for usury signifies biting. The law of God prohibits rigorous
imposing conditions of gain for the loan of money or goods, and exacting
them without respect to the condition of the borrower, whether he gain
or lose; whether poverty occasioned his borrowing, or a visible prospect
of gain by employing the borrowed goods. It is said in Exod. xxii. 25,
26, “If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee, thou
shalt not be to him as an _usurer_, neither shalt thou lay upon him
_usury_,” etc. And in Lev. xxv. 35, 36, 37, “If thy brother be waxen
poor, and fallen into decay with thee, then thou shalt relieve him; yea,
though he be a stranger, or a sojourner, that he may live with thee:
take thou no _usury_ of him,” etc. This law forbids the taking _usury_
from a brother that was poor, an Israelite reduced to poverty, or from a
proselyte; but in Deut. xxiii. 20, God seems to tolerate _usury_ towards
strangers; “Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon _usury_.” By
_strangers_, in this passage, some understand the Gentiles in general,
or all such as were not Jews, excepting proselytes. Others think that by
_strangers_ are meant the Canaanites, and the other people that were
devoted to slavery and subjection; of these the Hebrews were permitted
to exact _usury_, but not of such _strangers_ with whom they had no
quarrel, and against whom the Lord had not denounced his judgments. The
Hebrews were plainly commanded in Exod. xxii. 25, etc., not to receive
_usury_ for money from any that borrowed from necessity, as in that case
in Neh. v. 5, 7. And such provision the law made for the preserving of
estates to their families by the year of jubilee; for a people that had
little concern in trade, could not be supposed to borrow money but out
of necessity: but they were allowed to lend upon _usury_ to strangers,
whom yet they must not oppress. This law, therefore, in the strictness
of it, seems to have been peculiar to the Jewish state; but in the
equity of it, it obligeth us to show mercy to those we have advantage
against, and to be content to share with those we lend to in loss, as
well as profit, if Providence cross them. And upon this condition, a
valuable commentator says, “It seems as lawful for me to receive
interest for money, which another takes pains with, improves, but runs
the hazard of in trade, as it is to receive rent for my land, which
another takes pains with, improves, but runs the hazard of in
husbandry.”—_Alexander Cruden, 1701-1770._
_Verse 5.—“He that putteth not out his money to usury.” “If thou lend
money to any of my people that is poor by thee.”_ Exod. xxii. 25.
Rather, according to the letter of the original, “If thou lend money to
my people, even to a poor man with thee.” The Israelites were a people
but little engaged in commerce, and therefore could not in general be
supposed to borrow money but from sheer necessity; and of that necessity
the lender was not to take advantage by usurious exactions. The law is
not to be understood as a prohibition of interest at any rate whatever,
but of excessive interest or usury. The clause, “Thou shalt not be to
him as an usurer,” is equivalent to saying, “Thou shalt not domineer and
lord it over him rigorously and cruelly.” That this class of men were
peculiarly prone to be extortionate and oppressive in their dealings
with debtors would seem to be implied by the etymology of the original
term for _usury_ (נֶשֶּׁךְ _neshek_), which comes from a root signifying
_to bite_; and in Neh. v. 2-5, we have a remarkable case of the bitter
and grinding effects resulting from the exercise of the creditor’s
rights over the debtor. A large portion of the people had not only
mortgaged their lands, vineyards and houses, but had actually sold their
sons and daughters into bondage, to satisfy the claims of their grasping
creditors. In this emergency Nehemiah espoused the cause of the poor,
and compelled the rich, against whom he called the people together, to
remit the whole of their dues; and, moreover, exacted from them an oath
that they would never afterwards oppress their poor brethren for the
payment of those debts. This was not because every part of those
proceedings had been contrary to the letter of the Mosaic law, but
because it was a flagrant breach of equity under the circumstances. It
was taking a cruel and barbarous advantage of the necessities of their
brethren, at which God was highly indignant, and which his servants
properly rebuked. From this law the Hebrew canonists have gathered a
general rule, that “Whoso exacteth of a poor man, and knoweth that he
hath not aught to pay with, he transgresseth against this prohibition,
Thou shalt not be to him as an exacting creditor.” (_Maimonides, in
Ainsworth._) We nowhere learn from the institutes delivered by Moses
that the simple taking of interest, especially from the neighbouring
nations (Deut. xxiii. 19, 20), was forbidden to the Israelites; but the
divine law would give no countenance to the griping and extortionate
practices to which miserly money-lenders are always prone. The deserving
and industrious poor might sometimes be reduced to such straits, that
pecuniary accommodations might be very desirable to them; and towards
such God would inculcate a mild, kind, and forbearing spirit, and the
precept is enforced by the relation which they sustained to him: _q.d._,
“Remember that you are lending to _my_ people, _my_ poor; and therefore
take no advantage of their necessities. Trust me against the fear of
loss, and treat them kindly and generously.”—_George Bush, in “Notes on
the Book of Exodus,” 1856._
_Verse 5.—“He that putteth not out his money to usury.”_ With respect to
the first clause, as David seems to condemn all kinds of usury in
general, and without exception, the very name has been everywhere held
in detestation. But crafty men have invented specious names under which
to conceal the vice; and thinking by this artifice to escape, they have
plundered with greater excess than if they had lent on usury avowedly
and openly. God, however, will not be dealt with and imposed upon by
sophistry and false pretences. He looks upon the thing as it really is.
There is no worse species of usury than an unjust way of making
bargains, where equity is disregarded on both sides. Let us, then,
remember that all bargains, in which the one party unrighteously strives
to make gain by the loss of the other party, whatever name may be given
to them, are here condemned. It may be asked, whether all kinds of usury
are to be put into this denunciation, and regarded as alike unlawful? If
we condemn all without distinction, there is a danger lest many, seeing
themselves brought into such a strait as to find that sin must be
incurred, in whatever way they can turn themselves, may be rendered
bolder by despair, and may rush headlong into all kinds of usury without
choice or discrimination. On the other hand, whenever we concede that
something may be lawfully done in this way, many will give themselves
loose reins, thinking that a liberty to exercise usury, without control
or moderation, has been granted them. In the first place, therefore, I
would, above all things, counsel my readers to beware of ingeniously
contriving deceitful pretexts by which to take advantage of their fellow
men, and let them not imagine that anything can be lawful to them which
is grievous and hurtful to others.... It is not without cause that God
has in Lev. xxv. 35, 36, forbidden usury, adding this reason: “And if
thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou
shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner; that he
may live with thee. Take thou no usury of him, or increase.” We see that
the end for which the law was framed was that man should not cruelly
oppress the poor, who ought rather to receive sympathy and compassion.
This was, indeed, a part of the judicial law which God appointed for the
Jews in particular; but it is a common principle of justice, which
extends to all nations, and to all ages, that we should keep ourselves
from plundering and devouring the poor who are in distress and want.
Whence it follows, that the gain which he who lends his money upon
interest acquires, without doing injury to any one, is not to be
included under the head of unlawful usury. The Hebrew word נֶשֶּׁךְ
_neshek_, which David employs, being derived from another word which
signifies _to bite_, sufficiently shows that usuries are condemned in so
far as they involve in them, or lead to, a license of robbing or
plundering our fellow men. Ezekiel, indeed (chapters xviii. 17, and
xxii. 12), seems to condemn the taking of any interest whatever upon
money lent; but he, doubtless, has an eye to the unjust and crafty arts
of gaining by which the rich devoured the poor people. In short,
provided we had engraven on our hearts the rule of equity which Christ
prescribes in Matt. vii. 12, “Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would
that men should do to you, do ye even so to them,” it would not be
necessary to enter into lengthened disputes concerning usury.—_John
Calvin, in loc._
_Verse 5 (first clause)._—The Mosaic law forbids the lending of money
for interest to an Israelite. Exod. xxii. 25; Lev. xxv. 37; Deut. xxiii.
19; Prov. xxviii. 8; Ezek. xviii. 8. In several of the passages referred
to, it is expressly supposed that money is lent only to the poor, a
supposition which has its ground in the simple relations of the Mosaic
times, in which lending, for the purpose of speculation and gain, had no
existence. Such lending ought only to be a work of brotherly love; and
it is a great violation of that if any one, instead of helping his
neighbour, takes advantage of his need to bring him into still greater
straits. The Mosaic regulation in question has, accordingly, its import
also for New Testament times. With the interest-lending of capitalists,
who borrow for speculation, it has nothing to do. This belongs to a
quite different matter, as is implied even by the name נֶשֶׁךְ, _a
mordendo_, according to which only such usury can be meant as plagues
and impoverishes a neighbour. By unseasonable comparison with our modes
of speech, many would expound, “His money he puts not to interest.”—_E.
W. Hengstenberg._
_Verse 5 (first clause)._—The worm called in Latin _teredo_, whereof
Pliny hath reported something in his story, breeding in wood, to the
touch is soft, yet it hath such teeth as endeavoureth and consumeth the
hard timber. So the usurer is a soft beast at first to handle, but in
continuance of time the hardness of his teeth will eat thee up, both
flesh and bone, if thou beware not. He pleadeth love, but not for thy
sake, but for his own; for as the ivy colleth and claspeth the oak as a
lover, but thereby it groweth up and overtoppeth the oak, and sucketh
out the juice and sap thereof, that it cannot thrive nor prosper; so the
usurer colleth, embraceth, and claspeth in arms the borrower, that
thereby himself may grow richer, and suck all wealth, goods, and riches
from him, that he never thriveth or prospereth after. The pleasure the
usurer showeth is like the playing of the cat with the silly mouse: the
cat playeth with the mouse, but the play of the cat is the death of the
mouse. The usurer pleasureth the borrower; but the pleasure of the
usurer is the undoing of the borrower. The fox through craft slideth and
tumbleth, and maketh much pastime till he come to the prey, then he
devoureth: the usurer maketh many fair speeches, giveth out many fair
promises, pretendeth very great kindness, until he have got thee within
his compass, then he crusheth and cruciateth thee. The usurer preyeth
upon the poor, he waxeth rich of the penury of his brother, he clotheth
himself with the coat of the naked, he gathereth riches of the indigency
and want of his neighbour; he feedeth himself of the bread of the
hungry, and devoureth his poor brother, as the great beasts do the
smaller; than which, saith Ambrose, there is no greater inhumanity and
cruelty, no greater wretchedness and iniquity, as Chrysostom in many
places, and Basil upon this Psalm, have well observed.—_Richard
Turnbull._
_Verse 5._—The rich make the poor to fill them; for _usurers_ feed upon
the poor, even as great fishes devour the small. Therefore, he which
said, Let there not be a beggar in Israel (Deut. xv. 4), said too, Let
there not be an usurer in Israel. For if there be usurers in Israel
there will be beggars in Israel; for usurers make beggars, even as
lawyers make quarrellers.... It is a miserable occupation to live by
sin, and a great comfort to a man when he looketh upon his gold and
silver, and his heart telleth him, All this is well gotten; and when he
lieth upon his death-bed, and must leave all to his children, he can say
unto them, I leave you mine own; but the usurer cannot say, I leave you
mine own, but I leave you other men’s; therefore the usurer can never
die in peace, because if he die before he maketh restitution, he dieth
in his sin.—_Henry Smith._
_Verse 5._—Biting _usurers_ were so abhorred in the primitive church,
that as they condemned the usurer himself, so they made the scribes, who
wrote the bonds, and also the witnesses, incapable of any benefit; and
that no testament or latter will, written by such should be valid. The
house of the usurer was called _domus Satanæ_, the house of the devil;
and they ordained that no man should eat or drink with such usurers, nor
fetch fire from them; and after they were dead that they should not be
buried in Christian burial. The conclusion of this is (Ezek. xviii. 13),
this sin is matched with theft; and verse 11, with adultery; and verse
12, with violence; it is the daughter of oppression and sister to
idolatry, and he that doth these things shall not _dwell in God’s holy
hill_. Albeit, these worldings think themselves more honest than thieves
and adulterers, yet the Lord maketh their case all alike.—_John Weemse,
1636._
_Verse 5.—“Taketh reward against the innocent.”_—I am sure this is
_scala inferni_, the right way to hell, to be covetous, to take bribes,
and pervert justice. If a judge should ask me the way to hell, I should
show him this way: First, let him be a covetous man; let his heart be
poisoned with covetousness. Then let him go a little further and take
bribes; and, lastly, pervert judgments. Lo, here is the mother, and the
daughter, and the daughter’s daughter. Avarice is the mother; she brings
forth bribe-taking, and bribe-taking perverting of judgment. There lacks
a fourth thing to make up the mess, which, so help me God, if I were
judge, should be _hangum tuum_, a Tyburn tippet to take with him; an it
were the judge of the King’s Bench, my Lord Judge of England, yea, an it
were my Lord Chancellor himself, to Tyburn with him.—_Hugh Latimer._
_Verse 5.—“Taketh reward against the innocent.”_ I come to corrupt
lawyers and advocates, who so often _take rewards against the innocent_,
as they do take upon them the defence of such causes as they in their
own conscience are persuaded to be evil and unjust. Which being so
common a fault among lawyers, as that very few which plead causes,
either in civil or ecclesiastical courts, do seem to make any conscience
thereof, to whom all is fish that cometh to their nets; therefore all
lawyers are to be exhorted to apply this note unto themselves.—_George
Downame._
_Verse 5.—“He that doeth.”_ ’Tis not said he that _professes_ this or
that, or he that _believes_ thus and thus, or he that is of such or such
an _opinion_ or _way of worship_, or he that sets up _new lights_, and
pretends the _Spirit_ for his immediate guide; ’tis not he that _hears_
much or _talks_ much of religion; no, nor he that _preaches_ and _prays_
much, nor he that _thinks_ much of these things, and _means well_; but
’tis he that “_doeth these things_”—that is actually employed about
them—that is the religious and truly godly man. ’Tis not, I say, a
formal _professor_, a confidant _solifidian_, a wild _opinionist_, a
high flown _perfectist_; it is not a constant _hearer_, or a mighty
_talker_, or a laborious _teacher_, or a _gifted brother_, or a simple
_well-wisher_ must pass; but ’tis the honest and sincere _doer_ of these
things, that will abide the test and stand the trial; when all other
flashy pretences shall, in those searching flames, be burnt and consumed
like “hay and stubble,” as the apostle expresses it. To wear Christ’s
livery and to do him no service is but to mock a gracious Master; to own
him in our _profession_ and deny him in our _practice_, is, with Judas,
to betray him with a kiss of homage; with the rude soldiers to bow the
knee before him, and, in the meantime, to beat his sacred head with his
reeden sceptre, and with Pilate to crown him with thorns, to crucify the
Lord and write over his head, “King of the Jews:” in a word, to grieve
him with our honours, and wound him with our acknowledgments. A
Christian profession without a life answerable, will be so far from
saving any one, that ’twill highly aggravate his condemnation; when a
dissembled friendship at the great day of discoveries shall be looked
upon as the worst of enmities. A mere outside formality of worship, is
at best but Prometheus’ sacrifice, a skeleton of bones and a religious
cheat.... The harmless humour of _meaning well_ is not enough to approve
a man’s spiritual state, to acquit obligations, or to ascertain his
expectations. For he that bids us “eschew evil” does immediately
subjoin, that we must “follow” and “hold fast that which is good.” It
will be no good account not to have done evil, unless we make it appear
that we have been doing good too; since the non-commission of great sins
will not excuse our omission of great duties. In the busy commonwealth
of bees, the drone without a sting, as she has no weapon for mischief,
so, wanting a tool for employ, is deservedly cashiered the
hive.—_Condensed from Adam Littleton, D.D., 1627-1694._
_Verse 5.—“He that doeth these things, shall never be moved.”_ Mark how
the prophet saith not, he that readeth these things, or he that heareth
these things, but he that _doth_ them, shall never be removed. For were
it enough to read or hear these precepts, then should an infinite number
of vain and wicked persons enter into, and continue in the church, which
notwithstanding have no place therein; for there are very few, or none
at all, which have not read, or at least have not heard these things,
yet they will not do them. Neither doth he say, he that talketh of these
things, but he that _doth_ them; for many now in these days can talk
gloriously of uprightness, justice, truth, in whom notwithstanding,
there is neither upright dealings, nor sound righteousness, nor
unfeigned truth to be found. Many can say that slander is sin, injury is
iniquity, to receive false reports is uncharitable, that it becometh not
the saints to flatter the wicked, that to break promise and falsify
their oaths is unseemly, to give upon usury is oppression, to receive
bribes against the innocent is extreme cruelty; yet themselves backbite
and hurt their neighbour, they themselves believe every tale that is
brought them, they flatter and fawn upon the wicked for advantage, they
swear and forswear for commodity, they oppress through usury, and
receive gifts of bribery against the innocent; and so in word they speak
of these things, but _do them not_ indeed.... Neither doth David say he
that preacheth these, “_shall never be removed_,” for then not only many
other wicked persons, which can speak of, yea many ungodly men which can
also preach of virtue, should have the place in the Lord’s tabernacle,
and rest upon his holy hill; but also among others, even Balaam the
covetous prophet, should have a sure place in God’s tabernacle; for he
could say, “If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I
cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more” (Num.
xxii. 18); yet he took rewards; yet he was carried away with
covetousness, as much as in him lay, to work the destruction of Israel,
the innocent people of the Lord.—_Richard Turnbull._
_Verse 5.—“Shall never be moved.”_ Moved he may be for a time, but not
removed for ever. His soul is bound up in the bundle of life, near unto
the throne of glory; when the souls of the wicked are restless as a
stone in the midst of a sling, saith the Targum in 1 Sam. xxv.—_John
Trapp._
_Verse 5 (last clause)._—The holy soul is the love of God, the joy of
angels; her eyes dare look upon the glorious Judge whom she knows to be
her Saviour. Her heart is courageous; she dares stand the thunder; and
when guilty minds creep into corners, she is confident in him that he
will defend her. She challengeth the whole world to accuse her of
injustice, and fears not the subornation of false witnesses, because she
knows the testimony of her own conscience. Her language is free and
bold, without the guiltiness of broken stops. Her forehead is clear and
smooth, as the brow of heaven. Her knees are ever bent to the throne of
grace; her feet travelling towards Jerusalem; her hands weaving the web
of righteousness. Good men bless her; good angels guard her; the Son of
God doth kiss her; and when all the world shall be turned to a burning
pile, she shall be brought safe to the mountain of joy, and set in a
throne of blessedness for ever.—_Thomas Adams._
HINTS TO PREACHERS.