hen gavest
not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have
required my own with usury." And they were quoted as a solemn
direction of the divine Master to deposit money in the bank.

To quote from these parables in the defense of usury is as flagrant a
perversion of the truth as the famous quotation to prove that Paul
encouraged theft. "Let him that stole, steal."

The lessons of these parables are in entire harmony with the law of
Moses and the teachings of the prophets and Nehemiah. In these
parables the usurer is presented as a hard man, exacting that which he
has not earned and to which he has no right.

The teachings of the Master did not permit what had been forbidden in
all the ages.

CHAPTER IX.

PRACTICE OF THE DISCIPLES.

The conditions in the very early church were not such as to make
prominent the sin of usury. Many of the disciples were very poor and
from the humblest walks of life. I Cor. 1:27-28: "But God hath chosen
the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath
chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things that are
mighty; and the base things of the world, and things which are
despised, hath God chosen, yea, and the things which are not, to bring
to nought things that are."

The practice of the disciples was, however, in entire harmony with the
teachings of Moses and the Master, and in accord with the prohibition
of usury. Later, in the time of the apostolic fathers when the church
came face to face with this sin, there was but one voice and that in
the denunciation, for the fathers were unanimous in its condemnation.

(1) The first disciples did not loan, but gave to their needy
brethren. The early converts held their property so subject to a
general call that some have thought they had a community of goods.

Acts 2:44, 45: "And all that believed were together, and had all
things common; * * * and sold their possessions and goods, and parted
them to all men, as every man had need."

It is evident they did not assist their brethren with "loans," but
with gifts; much less did they take the opportunity to secure increase
on loans.

The suffering poor were their especial care. They gave of their
poverty for the relief of the suffering. Many called by the Spirit
were in want, and many came to want through the severe persecutions to
which they were subjected. This was especially true of the converts in
Jerusalem. For these large collecti