I. ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF HOSTILITY TO LOANS AT INTEREST. Universal belief in the sin of loaning money at interest The taking of interest among the Greeks and Romans Opposition of leaders of thought, especially Aristotle Condemnation of the practice by the Old and New Testaments By the Church fathers In ecclesiastical and secular legislation Exception sometimes made in behalf of the Jews Hostility of the pulpit Of the canon law Evil results of the prohibition of loans at interest Efforts to induce the Church to change her position Theological evasions of the rule Attitude of the Reformers toward the taking of interest Struggle in England for recognition of the right to accept interest Invention of a distinction between usury and interest II. RETREAT OF THE CHURCH, PROTESTANT AND CATHOLIC. Sir Robert Filmer's attack on the old doctrine Retreat of the Protestant Church in Holland In Germany and America Difficulties in the way of compromise in the Catholic Church Failure of such attempts in France Theoretical condemnation of usury in Italy Disregard of all restrictions in practice Attempts of Escobar and Liguori to reconcile the taking of interest with the teachings of the Church Montesquieu's attack on the old theory Encyclical of Benedict XIV permitting the taking of interest Similar decision of the Inquisition at Rome Final retreat of the Catholic Church Curious dealings of theology with public economy in other fields CHAPTER XX. FROM THE DIVINE ORACLES TO THE HIGHER CRITICISM. I. THE OLDER INTERPRETATION. Character of the great sacred books of the world General laws governing the development and influence of sacred literature.--The law of its origin Legends concerning the Septuagint The law of wills and causes The law of inerrancy Hostility to the revision of King James's translation of the Bible The law of unity Working of these laws seen in the great rabbinical schools The law of allegorical interpretation Philo Judaeus Justin Martyr and Clement of Alexandria Occult significance of numbers Origen Hilary of Poitiers and Jerome Augustine Gregory the Great Vain attempts to check the flood of allegorical interpretations Bede.--Savonarola Methods of modern criticism for the first time employed by Lorenzo Valla Erasmus Influence of the Reformation on the belief in the infallibility of the sacred books.--Luther and Melanchthon Development of scholasticism in the Reformed Church Catholic belief in the inspiration of the Vulgate Opposition in Russia to the revision of the Slavonic Scriptures Sir Isaac Newton as a commentator Scriptural interpretation at the beginning of the eighteenth century