subject.

But far greater was the stream of influence from the Jewish and
Christian sacred books. In the Old Testament stood various texts
condemning usury--the term usury meaning any taking of interest: the law
of Moses, while it allowed usury in dealing with strangers, forbade it
in dealing with Jews. In the New Testament, in the Sermon on the Mount,
as given by St. Luke, stood the text "Lend, hoping for nothing again."
These texts seemed to harmonize with the most beautiful characteristic
of primitive Christianity; its tender care for the poor and oppressed:
hence we find, from the earliest period, the whole weight of the Church
brought to bear against the taking of interest for money.(448)

(448) On the general allowance of interest for money in Greece, even at
high rates, see Bockh, Public Economy of the Athenians, translated by
Lamb, Boston, 1857, especially chaps. xxii, xxiii, and xxiv of book i.
For a view of usury taken by Aristotle, see his Politics and Economics,
translated by Walford, p. 27; also Grote, History of Greece, vol. iii,
chap. xi. For summary of opinions in Greece and Rome, and their relation
to Christian thought, see Bohm-Bawerk, Capital and Interest, translated
by Smart, London, 1890, chap. i. For a very full list of scripture texts
against the taking of interest, see Pearson, The Theories on Usury
in Europe, 1100-1400, Cambridge (England), 1876, p. 6. The texts most
frequently cited were Leviticus xxv, 36, 37; Deuteronomy xxiii, 19 and
26; Psalms, xv, 5; Ezekiel xviii, 8 and 17; St. Luke, vi, 35. For a
curious modern use of them, see D. S. Dickinson's speech in the State of
New York, in vol. i of his collected writings. See also Lecky, History
of Rationalism in Europe, vol. ii, chap. vi; and above all, as the most
recent historical summary by a leading historian of political economy,
Bohm-Bawerk, as above.

The great fathers of the Eastern Church, and among them St. Basil,
St. Chrysostom, and St. Gregory of Nyssa,--the fathers of the Western
Church, and among them Tertullian, St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and St.
Jerome, joined most earnestly in this condemnation. St. Basil denounces
money at interest as a "fecund monster," and says, "The divine law
declares expressly, 'Thou shalt not lend on usury to thy brother or thy
neighbour.'" St. Gregory of Nyssa calls down on him who lends money at
interest the vengeance of the Almighty. St. Chrysostom says: "What can
be more unreasonable than