So the righteous person has what to lend, and has silver to lend, and lends his own words: this is the silver of the righteous; for the words of the Lord, pure words, are silver tested by fire, refined seven times. This he lends who accepts the Law, who meditates on the Law, who practices the Law: this Peter lent, this Paul lent, to whom it is said that they should go to the men of the nations. To Cornelius the centurion, Peter says: Rise, go without hesitation, for I have sent them; and he rose and went (Acts 10:20). And below it says: Can we forbid water that these, who have received the Holy Spirit, be baptized? And He commanded them to be baptized. This is: You will lend to the nations, that you may forgive sins, erase debts: but you will not borrow. For the sinner borrows, and he does not pay off his sins; for he is a sinner. It is said by Paul: You will lend to the nations, who has been sent to the nations; it is said to John: You will lend to the nations; it is said to James and the others: You will lend to the nations; to whom it has been said: Go, baptize the nations.
62. It is said to the people of the fathers: If you keep the commandments of God, you will be blessed, and you will lend to the nations, and you will not borrow the word (Deut. XXVIII. 12). Finally, the following are not said about money: You will be the chief among many nations, but no one will dominate you. The Lord your God will establish you as the head, and not the tail, and then you will be above and not below, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God (Ibid., 13). And it follows: But if you do not listen, you will be cursed in the city, and cursed in the field (Ibid., 16). And below: 'Cursed is the offspring of your womb' (Ibid., 18). It is not money that makes a person blessed, but knowledge of God, preaching of the word: if we lend the grace of the Lord, if we share the words of the Lord with the needy, if we observe heavenly commandments. And on the other hand, lack of money that can be lent does not bring a curse, but lack of devotion, lack of observance of heavenly statutes. You will be cursed.
Caput XIX.
The Jews first lent money to the nations, and afterwards the nations, who believed in Christ, repaid them when they had lost their own money. The praise of this money, and an exhortation to lend it, and how the nations were preferred to the Israelites in this matter.
63. Finally, the mystery of the Church is clearly expressed. For first he said to the disciple of the Law: If you hear the Law, and keep it, you will lend to the nations (Deut. XV, 6); which was done by our fathers. Moses lent to the nations, who acquired proselytes, Joshua lent, Gideon lent, Samuel lent, David lent, Solomon lent, Elijah lent, Elisha lent; and if anyone wanted to know the word, he went to them: the queen of the South came to hear the wisdom of Solomon.
64. When the people of the Jews began to not keep the Law, foreigners, that is, from the peoples who believed in the Lord Jesus, began to interpret the Scriptures for that ancient people. Timothy, who was of Greek descent by his father, lent his words to the Jews when he received the priesthood; today we priests in the Church lend our words to the Jews who have moved from the Synagogue to the Church; we also lend new and old money: indeed, what they had, they no longer have; they have eyes but do not see, they have ears but do not hear; they have money but do not have it, because they are ignorant of its use, they do not know its value, they have not recognized its appearance and form. For if they had known, they would never have denied the author of the money, saying: We do not want this man to reign over us (Luke, XIX, 14). But when he returned having received the kingdom, he commanded his servants to be called to whom he had given the money, and he preached to those who had lent the money: but to him who had kept his money idle, his master replied: You knew that I am a severe man, taking up what I did not lay down, and reaping what I did not sow: and why did you not put my money in the bank, so that when I came I could have collected it with interest? (Ibid., 22 and 23).
You have heard what money is good for a usurer, what money acquires good interest, what money does not defame the usurer, does not oppress the debtor, what money rust cannot cover, moth cannot penetrate, what money is not from earthly treasure, but from eternal, what money makes the recipient rich, and does not diminish the lender. This money has interest: not a hundredth part of what it gives as a portion, but it yields a hundredfold fruit. Therefore, expand the depths of your mind, so that you may receive the counted quantity of this money: focus the gaze of your heart, so that you may recognize the image and inscription of this money: certainly, examine this money, set it on the table above your soul, which is stable by virtues, establish it as a square, keep it in the treasury of your chest, from which a learned scribe draws out new and old. You see what kind of money this is, how it unites the names of creditor and debtor, which are hateful to each other. I was inveighing against the moneylenders, now I challenge the debtor. Therefore, I desire that you, moneylenders of this money, may hasten to those who take a loan, willingly: through which you may acquire not only money, but also a kingdom; through which you may seek not curses, but the grace of blessings.
66. This money was lent by the people of the nations, who knew how to borrow, who knew how to lend, who knew how to collect. You refused the poor in need of spiritual support, and you began to be in need. Therefore, it is said about you by the Son of God: The sinner will borrow and not repay (Psalm XXXVI, 21). It is said to you, the stranger within you, will rise above you, but you will descend to the depths (Deuteronomy XXVIII, 43). For he does not know the highest who does not know Christ; he is always in hell who does not ascend to Christ; but the people who receive the word are at the highest, they have the entire inheritance of faith. The Law says this about him: 'He will lend to you, and you will not lend to him; he will be the head, and you will be the tail.' (Ibid., 44), that is, he will be first, and you last and despised. 'I will take away from Judah the head and the tail, the beginning and the end: the beginning is Christ, who when asked who he was, replied: The beginning, which I also speak to you.' (John 8:25): and he also says that Christ is the end: for he is the end of the Law unto righteousness to everyone that believeth. (Romans 10:4). Therefore, he who does not believe in justice has neither beginning nor end, but is the end of himself.
Caput XX.
With the security of a pledge, it demonstrates that the spiritual pledge, which is ordered to be restored by law, must also be physically restored. Whoever hears the word of God is a debtor and the pledge should not be taken from them. Concerning the evangelical garments and the tunic that we are all commanded to wear. The word of God is a good garment; it is the pledge of the Lord's lot, it is the garment of wisdom; nevertheless, the word must be narrowed down.
67. We have known a legitimate interest, let us also know the pledge which the Law commands to be returned before sunset. Listen to the Apostle saying what this is: God has given the pledge of the Spirit in our hearts (II Cor. I, 22). And both pledge, and entrusted, and entrusted are said in three ways. They say pledge what is undertaken for a loan of money: entrusted, however, and entrusted what we have entrusted to someone for the sake of custody. Hence the Apostle says: I know whom I have believed, and I am sure, that he is able to guard my deposit until that day (II Tim. I, 12). He also taught about the deposit, saying: Preserve the good deposit through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us (Ibid., 14). Is the Holy Spirit the guardian of entrusted gold and silver, or is money preserved through the Holy Spirit? Therefore, the spiritual pledge is safeguarded by the Spirit, so that the birds of the sky do not come and take it away from our hearts.
Therefore, let us ask that Christ, who Himself gave this pledge, may guard it within us and preserve His entrusted treasure. For He received nothing from us but entrusted to us what was not ours. And therefore, he who violates another's entrusted treasure is harmed in his sense of honor. If we must not violate the entrusted pledge of a man with fraud, how much more fitting is it that we faithfully keep the divine and spiritual deposit, lest we suffer serious damages to our reputation and well-being.
69. This, therefore, is the pledge which the Law prohibits from being pledged, and violently taken away. For thus Scripture has it: If your neighbor owes you anything, you shall not enter his house to pledge the pledge; and the man to whom the debt is due, shall bring forth to you the pledge outside. But if that man is poor, you shall not sleep in his pledge, but you shall restore to him his pledge by sunset; and he shall sleep in his own clothing, and bless you, and it shall be mercy to you (Deuteronomy XXIV, 10 and following).
So you say to me: Behold the Law prohibits the removal of a pledge, not its acceptance: but it commands that it be returned to the poor, not to everyone. But Ezra also taught us about the bodily pledges, that now, moneylenders, you are not able to come against the profession of your fathers. For when those who had lent money were commanded, and they had taken the pledges of others, to return them, they said: We return them, and we seek nothing from them (Nehemiah 5:12). Good fathers, who established that the pledges of debtors should be returned: also good moneylenders who responded that they would both return the pledges and not require the money that they had given. And the judgment of your paternal position binds you to this, as well as the statement of the creditors.
71. There is, however, another pledge which the spiritual Law forbids to be taken away; and if it is given, it commands it to be returned before sunset: which the debtor repays, and he himself produced it. But the debtor is every one who hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it: the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. Therefore, do not enter into his house, so that you may receive that pledge. Woe to him who causes one of these little ones to stumble! If he has lost his pledge by his own foolishness, you will not have any blame. But if he is poor, return the pledge before sunset: the pledge is his clothing. If he seems rich to himself, he deceives himself, if he has given his pledge: but if he is poor and does not have the riches of the spirit, return his clothing to him before sunset.
72. If it were a matter of physical pledge, certainly it should have been repaid more so on a daily basis, so that the shame of a naked body would not be revealed in the daylight; for darkness does not reveal a naked body. And if this were the reason that the poor person did not have anything to cover themselves while sleeping, certainly they would have said that a cover or garment should be repaid. But now, by saying 'clothing', it signifies more specifically a tunic with which we are clothed and dressed. Therefore, give your tunic to the poor person, so that they may sleep in it at night.
73. Does it not seem to you that he signifies a poor man, who is commanded to go with one tunic, not to seek another, sent by Christ to preach the Gospel? For he is truly poor in spirit, who is able to sleep: for when one is satisfied with riches, there is no one to allow him to sleep. The poor one sleeps the sleep of resurrection, which the rich person cannot sleep, for he is suffocated by riches and pleasures. He sleeps the rest of Christ, who says: I have slept and have rested, and have risen. This is the tunic that was woven without seam, in which Christ was clothed, which those soldiers whom you know could not tear apart. For none of them tears the garment of Christ, but divides it, as it is written: They divided my garments among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots (Ps. 22:18). The evangelists divided his garments among themselves, and for his clothing, that is, for the preaching of the Gospel with which the Lord Jesus is clothed even today, they cast lots. Certainly that fate, which fell upon Matthias, that he would be added to the number of the apostles as the twelfth, with the name of the traitor excluded, was well said. But it was well said about the evangelists because they cast lots; for the lot hangs, as it were, on divine examination. And therefore, because they did not speak by their own power, nor did they all say the same things; but most of them said different things, which the others did not say: we know that the grace of the Holy Spirit, like a lot, gave them those things to speak individually about the works of the Lord Jesus; so that they would divide His deeds among themselves to be described according to His will.
74. And there is that tunic which the Apostle shows, saying: Put on the Lord Jesus (Rom. I, 3, 14). This is the tunic which covers our shameful things and surrounds them with greater honor in Christ. We put on the bowels of mercy in Christ, we put on the glory of the cross, which seemed scandalous to the Jews and foolishness to the Greeks. Those who think it should be ashamed of it are the ones who are ashamed. But for us, it is not fitting to boast except in the cross of the Lord Jesus. These lowly things of ours have greater honor, because through the passion of the Lord, an eternal kingdom is prepared for us; for the more one has sinned, the more he is loved. Therefore, let us be buried with Lord Jesus, so that we may deserve to be participants of his resurrection: let us strip off the old man with his actions, let us put on the new, in which there is forgiveness of sins.
75. Therefore, the clothing and covering, the Word of God. With this clothing, the sons of Noah covered their father's genitals, taking a garment and going backwards, so they would not see their father's genitals, which symbolize the physical aspects that bring shame to humankind. And thus, the one who desired to see received a deserving punishment, becoming a servant; for everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. Therefore, he remained in worldly matters. Let no one take away clothing from this poor person; or if they have taken it, let the sun not set upon the stripped one: let them restore it before, so that the sin of the poor person may not be attributed to the lender; and let them not only work for their own sin, but also for the sin of another. Let this pledge be returned on this night of the world, let this clothing be put on in these dark times of the world.
This is a pledge of that blessed lot, not of the contrary one. For we read in Leviticus of two lots, of which it is said: One you shall make for God, the other for the receiver. The receiver sends his lot to the moneylenders: the servants of the Lord are in the lot of Christ. Aaron, placed in this lot, excluded the trouble of the contrary lot, when, being situated between the two parts of the people, he did not allow death to overtake the dead by being drawn into the lot of the living body of the self. The good pledge of this fate is Verbiamictus. No debtor should take this tunic from you: no one should pawn this tunic, if you wish to never suffer shame, so that you may sleep among the clergy like Aaron, sleep among the two Testaments, so that you may sleep the sleep of resurrection, and be able to restore yourselves. This is the garment that even if you pawned it, holy Solomon advises you to take back, saying: Take off your garment: for an injurious person passes by (Prov. XXVII, 13).
77. The garment of wisdom is made from those clothes that wisdom itself made for herself from fine linen and purple: this is, the garment of faith consists in the preaching of heavenly things and the blood of the Lord's passion: the fine linen denotes heavenly things, the purple signifies the mystery of the sacred blood by which the heavenly kingdom is conferred. Finally, the garment of wisdom indicates higher things; for he goes on to say: Be wise, my son, and let your heart be glad (Prov. XXVII, 11). And below in two verses it says: But those who come upon you unawares suffer loss (Ibid., 12). Take off your clothes. Therefore, take them off, so that you do not experience the loss of ignorance; and so that wicked common usurer, recognizing you undressed from your own clothes, may try to uncover the shame of you and persuade you to cover yourself with leaves and fear the true sight of God seeing you naked.
78. 'Give,' he says, 'to your neighbor in the earliest time, a concise word, and deal faithfully with him; and at all times you will find what is necessary for you.' (Ecclesiasticus 29:2-3) 'Innocence does not love to defend itself before many.' Susanna did not lack the power of speech: she restrained her words to the Lord and immediately deserved to obtain the testimony of her own chastity. Many priests spoke, who were laboring to obscure the truth with the deceit of words, but not the daughter of Judah. She remained silent among men, but spoke to God. The defense of the woman herself was shameful; and while modesty was being defended, impudence was being feigned. She constrained her words, saying to the Lord: You know that they have spoken falsely about me (Dan. 13:41). And the Lord stirred up the spirit of the young man Daniel, the avenger of chastity.
79. Therefore, let the word be concise, so that the repayment to the creditor may not be with words but with actions. Or mystically: Let the word be concise, that is, perfect. For the Lord, by speaking a perfect and concise word, will bring about on earth, that is, in your understanding, a summary abbreviated from many reasonings. Deduct that various expenses have been incurred so that you may have what is left over. Just as the Lord, through various dispensations to the Jews, finally perfected and abbreviated that great plan of sins, so that the remnant might be saved through the election of grace and preserved for the sake of the offspring, through whom the hope of the synagogue, which was dead, might be revived.
Caput XXI.
They are reproached who, when they are unable to pay, borrow money. The same people, when rejected, and not rendering on the agreed day, make enemies out of friends; hence it is concluded that no one should borrow money. What is meant by not binding with a millstone and a supermillstone?