# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_August 1864_S229
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

Martin Chemnitz on Usury. 229

keep it in the strongbox" — then indeed the authorities do not punish such
a person. But one need only consider the true foundations of this
doctrine: God has not instituted only that one kind of exchange through
business dealings; rather, while he only permits the other contracts, he
strictly commands the service of lending without charge and of
almsgiving, adding to it many promises and threats.

If one asks whether the creditor may demand back the principal from
the one to whom he has lent, the answer is obvious, because the contract
of lending includes within itself the obligation to restore the principal.
And the 37th Psalm says, verse 21, that it is a sin when the debtor who
has borrowed does not pay. Indeed, Scripture does not disapprove of
taking pledges for the sake of that obligation and for the sake of security.
Deuteronomy 24:10–11; Proverbs 20:16 and 27:13. And in Luke 6:34
Christ draws a distinction between lending and almsgiving which is
nothing other than the restitution of the principal. But if, in the
meantime, the debtor has become so poor that, were he forced to restore
the principal, he would be brought to the beggar's staff and robbed of
what is necessary for his livelihood, then, by the law of love, the thing
lent becomes an alms. Exodus 22:25; Deuteronomy 24:12; Ezekiel 18:7,
33:15; Job 22:6, 24:3; Isaiah 58:6. And Christ says, Luke 6:35, that one
should lend not only to those who can secure their creditors for the
restitution of the principal, whether by a pledge or in some other way, but
also to those from whom nothing is hoped for, except when they come
into better circumstances and are well able to make restitution.

Thus he does not do right who is able to carry on a
business and possesses property, and yet wishes to
avail himself of the free borrowing to which the poor
are entitled; rather, to him the remaining contracts are
set before him.

If a rich man gives to a rich man, or lends to him without charge, he
does not sin thereby, any more than does one who invites his friends or
the wealthy to a meal; but he does not thereby perform that good work
which Scripture so often commands when it speaks of lending, to which
such excellent promises are attached. But if, passing over the lesser folk
who are in want, he lends without charge only to the rich, then Christ
says of such a man that he is no better than the tax collectors and
sinners.

Some do not wish to be regarded as usurers, and so
they do not lend to the begging poor without charge,
but instead sell them certain goods, on account of the
delay in payment, at a higher price than the fair one.
These flatter themselves that they do not practice
usury. But they thereby oppress and drain their
neighbor even more than through usury. And Paul
says: The Lord is the avenger of all these things.
1 Thessalonians 4:6.