# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_Juli 1864_S199
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Dr. K. K. Münkel's Assessment of the Work: The Right Form, etc. 199

usurious intent, that is no usury. For it is a good principle of the jurists: "In deeds of love we are obligated first of all to those from whom we are conscious of having received a kindness." 4. Whatever it may be that is demanded over and above the capital, whether of the same kind or of another kind, that is usury. Jerome writes, in his work on the prophet Ezekiel: "Some think usury exists only in money; but Scripture, foreseeing this, takes away the overcharge in every matter, so that one may not take more than one has given." In the same place: "Some are accustomed to take gifts of another kind instead of usurious money-interest, not perceiving that Scripture calls usury an overcharge — whatever it may be that one takes in addition from the one to whom one has given." Ambrose: "Many, in order to evade the commandments of the Law, when they have given money to merchants, demand no money-usury, but instead take a share of their goods as usurious gain; therefore let them hear what the Law says. Thou shalt not, it says, practice usury, neither with money, nor with food, nor with anything with which one can practice usury." Deuteronomy 23:19. The same: "Usury is food, usury is a garment, and whatever at all is added to the capital is usury; give it whatever name you will, it is usury." Augustine: "If you have lent money to a man, from whom you expect more than you have given — be it money, or wheat, or whatever else it may be — then you are a usurer." And Thomas rightly says: "When an advantage that can be reckoned in money, such as labor or a service, is demanded on account of the service rendered by the lending, that is usury." 5. When Christ says, "hoping for nothing again," he thereby censures the agreement and the intention, because otherwise they would not lend if they did not hope to receive something over and above the capital.

(To be continued.)

(Submitted by Prof. Brauer.)
Dr. K. K. Münkel's Assessment
of the work: "The Right Form of an Evangelical Lutheran Congregation Independent of the State." By C. F. W. Walther in St. Louis.

It is unquestionably of great importance for the members of the Missouri Synod how their ecclesiastical life is judged by the Lutherans in Germany. For it is not only, in itself and for the truth's sake, a most gratifying thing to perceive a spiritual unity gradually taking shape on such burning questions as the Church, the Ministry, and church government, but in a certain respect the flourishing growth of the Synod itself depends, more or less, upon it. For the more this dreadful civil