Usury : $b a scriptural, ethical and economic viewElliott, Calvin
Religion
Usury : $b a scriptural, ethical and economic view
Elliott, Calvin
Usury
1. They are seeking only a return--a reform: "a restoration to a
former state;" they are not seeking for the establishment of some new
and untried theory, but they are seeking a return to the faith and
conduct of the righteous from the beginning and up seventeen centuries
of the Christian era. The race is but temporarily deflected to the
worship of the golden calf.
2. There is coming forward a great army of intelligent, virtuous young
people. They are made intelligent by our high schools, seminaries and
colleges. They are made students of the Bible and stimulated in
righteousness by Sunday Schools, Christian Associations, Endeavors,
Leagues and Unions. From these there shall rise up defenders of the
truth, free from the burden of debt and unbiassed by life-long
association with conditions familiar to those older. The reformers in
all ages have been young, and this reform will be no exception. There
is a rashness in youth that needs direction, but there is also a dash
and hope and confidence that is necessary to break away from old
customs. One generation of intelligent, virtuous young people could
give this evil its fatal blow.
Usury cannot flourish among the vicious and the unreliable. Other
evils may flourish among the idle, the indolent, the treacherous, the
deceitful and the dishonest, but industry and economy and integrity
and faithfulness and honor and even God-fearing piety are desirable
qualities in the usurer's victims. The higher the civilization, yes
Christian civilization, the more is produced and the richer the
harvest. The usurer has no use for a savage. This worm thrives in the
living body and sucks its vitality. It cannot flourish in putrid
flesh. Let the highest types of our young manhood avoid this sin and
its death knell is sounded.
3. Present conditions stimulate an interest in this question. The
unequal distribution of the vast wealth now being produced: the
earnings of the many turned into the coffers of a few; the struggles
between the employers and their employees; organized labor and
combinations of wealth; lead to a closer study of this and allied
economic questions than they have ever received before. The solution
of these questions will expose the fraud of usury.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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