75. Answer to an objection.
This reflection brings us to the consideration of the
application made by an author, of the text, mutuum date nihil
inde sperantes, and shews how false that application is, and how
distant from the meaning of the Gospel. The passage is clear, as
interpreted by modern and reasonable divines as a precept of
charity. All mankind are bound to assist each other; a rich man
who should see, his fellow creature in distress, and who, instead
of gratuitously assisting, should sell him what he needed, would
be equally deficient in the duties of christianity and of
humanity. In such circumstances, charity does not only require us
to lend without interest, she orders us to lend, and even to give
if necessary. To convert the precept of charity into a precept of
strict justice, is equally repugnant to reason, and the sense of
the text. Those whom I here attack do not pretend that it is a
duty of justice to lend their money; they must be obliged then to
confess, that the first words of the passage, mutuum date,
contain only a precept of charity. Now I demand why they extend
the latter part of this passage to a principle of justice. What,
is the duty of lending not a strict precept, and shall its
accessory only, the condition of the loan, be made one; it would
have been said to man, "It is free for you to lend or not to
lend, but if you do lend, take care you do not require any
interest for your money, and even when a merchant shall require a
loan of you for an undertaking, in which he hopes to make a large
profit, it will be a crime in you to accept the interest he
offers you; you must absolutely either lend to him gratuitously,
or not lend to him all? You have indeed one method to make the
receipt of interest lawful, it is to lend your capital for an
indefinite term, and to give up all right to be repaid it, which
is to be optional to your debtor, when he pleases, or when he
can. If you find any inconvenience on the score of security, or
if you foresee you shall want your money in a certain number of
years, you have no other course to take but not to lend: It is
better for you to deprive this merchant of this most fortunate
opportunity, than to commit a sin by assisting him." This is what
they must have seen in these five words, mutuum date nihil inde
sperantes, when they have read them under these false prejudices.
Every man who shall read this text unprejudiced, will soon
find its real meaning; that is, "as men, as Christians, you are
all brothers, all friends; act towards each other as brethren and
friends; help each other in your necessities; let your purges he
reciprocally open to each other, and do not sell that assistance
which you are mutually indebted to each other, in requiring an
interest for a loan which charity requires of you as a duty."
This is the true sense of the passage in question. The obligation
to lend without interest, and to lend, have evident relation to
each other; they are of the same order, and both inculcate a duty
of charity, and not a precept of rigorous justice, applicable to
all cases of lending.
