Eteinne Bauny's Advice on Avoiding Ursury

     Having declared usurers "infamous in life and unworthy of a Christian burial," Etienne Bauny, the 17th century French Jesuit casuist, in his “Somme des Péchés qui se Commettent en tous États” offers the following advice:

“The person from whom the loan is asked must answer, then, in this manner: I have got no money to lend, I have got a little, however, to lay out for an honest and lawful profit.  If you are anxious to have the sum you mention in order to make something of it by your industry, dividing the profit and loss between us, I may perhaps be able to accommodate you. But now I think of it, as it may be a matter of difficulty to agree about the profit, if you will secure me a certain portion of it, and give me so much for my principal, so that it incur no risk, we may come to terms much sooner, and you shall touch the cash immediately.”

He concludes:

“Such, in my opinion, is an excellent plan by which a great many people, who now provoke the just indignation of God by their usury, extortion, and illicit bargains, might save themselves, in the way of making good, honest, and legitimate profits.”