Usury, funds, and banks : also forestalling traffick, and monopoly : likewise pew rent, and grave tax ; together with burking, and dissecting; as well as the Gallican liberties, are all repugnant to the divine and ecclesiastical laws, and destructive to c

394 Pages·1834·25.11 MB·English

by  O'Callaghan

7

TRANSFERRED

USUKY, FUNDS, AND BANKS;
ALSO
FORESTALLING TRAFFICK, AND MONOPOLY
5
PEW AND GRAVE TAX
RENT,
5
TOGETHER WITH
AND
BURKING, DISSECTING;
ASWELLASTHE
GALLICAN
LIBERTIES,
ABE ALL REPUGNANT TO THEDIVINE ANDECCLESIASTICAL LAWS,
AND DESTRUCTIVE TO CIVIL SOCIETY.
TOWHICHISPREFIXED
ANARRATIVEOFTHEAUTHOR'SCONTROVERSYWITHBISHOPCOPPINGER,
AND OFHISSUFFERINGS FOR JUSTICE SAKE.
BYTHE REV. JEREMIAHO'CALLAGHAN, Roman Catholic Priest.
BURLINGTON:
PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR.
1834.
NOV 25 1955
CONTENTS
....
PAGE.
NARRATIVE, ..... 3
USURY, OR INTEREST, 67
FUNDS, 147
BANKS, 154
SAVINGS BANKS, . .- ... .... 187
TRAFFICK AND MONOPOLY, 276
PEW RENT, 292
GRAVE TAX, . . . . .. ... . 307
DISSECTING AND BURKING, . 301
GALLICAN LIBERTIES, 317

NARRATIVE OP THE CONTROVERSY;
AND OP THE
SUFFERINGS OF THE AUTHOR.
BURLINGTON, VERMONT, MARCH I?TH, THE
FESTIVAL OF ST. PATRICK, A. D. 1834.
WHAT shall I cry ? All flesh is grass, and the glory thereof as
the flower of the field. The grass is withered, and the flower
is fallen but the word of our Lord endureth for ever. Amen I
;
say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle will
not pass from the law. Notwithstanding everyone useth violence
towards it ; particularly in thosedays whenthe falling off from the
law and the Prophets, is so daring and general, that the end of
the world seems not far distant. People, when first they are car-
ried away from the law, through pride, ambition, the lust of the
flesh, or love of sordid gain, find within, a monitor teasing and
tormenting them ; now it reminds the prodigal child of his lost
dignity, and of his misery amidst the swine in the desert, and
then it urges him to return with confidence to the bosom of
his merciful Father. These motions and feelings of the fallen
soul, are but calls and graces from Providence, who wills not the
death of the sinner. At one time he pays a visit by sickness
or worldly afflictions ; and at another, he pictures before us the
eternal suffering of the damned, or the endlessjoy of the blessed
As he says, Such as I love, I rebuke and chastise ; be zeaipus,
therefore, and do penance. Behold, I stand at the gate and
knock. If any manshallhearmy voice, andopen to me thedoor, t
willcome in and will supwithhim andhe with me : APOG. iii. 19.
1
THE AUTHOR'S
But lastly, if they correspond not with the graces or calls from
heaven : if their heart is grown gross, and with the ears they
have heard heavily, and their eyes they have shut to the calls of
their merciful Father, they become habitual sinners, and are al-
lowed, without aid or light from above, to follow the bent of
their corrupt heart. Thus saith the Lord, For three crimes of
Juda, and for four,I will not convert him. AMOS ii. I called
upon you, but you answered me not, you will call upoa m.
and I will not answer you. Then, indeed are the poor sinners
in a miserable state.
Of all the vices that defile and deprave the human heart, ava-
rice, the root of all evils, is the most abhorrent and difficult of
cure ; whilst all others wither and cool in his declining years,
this gains more strength and fury ; and what renders the prospect
of amendment still more remoteand arduous, almost all ranks and
stations, the young and the old, the male and the female, the bond
and the freeman, are more or less infected ; all aiming, though
by differentrentes, at the temple of Mammon. When vice thus
spreads through the community, assuming the garb of virtue, who
could think of resisting it ? That usury would ever be adopted,
in any Christian country, as the means of making riches, puzzles
all people that have not lost, or never received the light of faith :
they are for"ever discussing the question in public and in private ;
in the school and at table ; never finding any balm or palliative
for it in the Sacred Rules Scripture and Tradition.
During thisstate ofperplexityonthepartofthepiousfew,the mi-
sersandtheavariciouspur?uetheir money projects. Noarguments
fromreligion woulddeter them from their usurious practices : and
whatsinksthem deeperstill in the mire, very few will have courage
to remind them of their error. Any writer who looks to pounds,
shillings and pence ; or whose livelihood depends on the sale of
his works, dares not attack the favorite passion of the rich.
Ifhe do, he will surely -suffer shipwreck : for the bankers, money-
changers, pawn brokers, fund-holders*, and all other adorers of
Mammon, will atonce league against him. They, the most, noisy
and influential orators in society, will single out the devoted
victim, and chase himself and his writings from the face of the