A12367:263
A preparative to marriage The sum whereof was spoken at a contract, and enlarged…A preparatiue to mariage The summe whereof was spoken at a contract, and inlarged…
A preparative to marriage The sum whereof was spoken at a contract, and enlarged after. Whereunto is annexed a treatise of the Lords Supper, and another of usury. By Henry Smith.A preparatiue to mariage The summe whereof was spoken at a contract, and inlarged after. Whereunto is annexed a treatise of the Lords Supper, and another of vsurie. By Henrie Smith.
London: printed by Thomas Orwin for Thomas Man, 1591
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Christ expounding the commandment 1which forbiddeth to steal, saith, lend freely, showing that Usury, because she lendeth not freely, is a kind of theft, and the Usurers a kind of thieves, for else this exposition were not right. Therefore Zacheus, as though he had stolen other mens goods, when he began to repent, he restored them again four fold, even as thieves are enjoined to restore four fold for that which 2they have stolen, so Zacheus restored four fold, as though he had stolen. It seemeth that Zacheus was no great thief, because he restored four fold ⟨image 142⟩for all that he had gotten wrongfully, for he got but the fourth part of his goods wrongfully at the most, or else he could not have restored four fold again. But now, if some should restore four fold, for all that they have gotten wrongfully, they should restore more than they have, because all which Usurers get, they get wrongfully: for their occupation is a sin, and therefore one saith, Because they cannot restore four fold here, they shall suffer an hundred fold hereafter. Amaziah is forbidden to strengthen 3himself with the armies of Israel, only because Israel had offended God; if Amaziah might not join the armies of Israel with his armies to strengthen him, darest thou join the goods of the poor with thy goods to enrich thee? ⟨image 143⟩When God set Adam his work, he said, In the sweat of thy brows 4shalt thou live: not in the sweat of his brows, but in the sweat of thy brows: but the Usurer liveth in the sweat of his brows, and her brows: that is, by the pains and cares, and labours of an other, for he taketh no pains himself, but only expecteth the time when his interest will come in, like the belly which doeth no work, and yet eateth all the meat. When God had finished his creation, he said unto man, and unto beasts, and unto fowls, and unto fishes, increase and multiply, but he never 5