Page:Reflections on the Formation and the Distribution of Riches by Anne Turgot.djvu/100

you lend, take care you do not take any interest for your money; and even if a merchant should ask a loan of you for an undertaking in which he hopes to make large profits, it will be a crime for you to accept the interest he offers you; you must absolutely either lend to him gratuitously or not lend to him at all. You have indeed one method of making interest lawful; that is, to lend your capital for an indefinite time, and to give up the right of demanding its repayment, and leave your debtor free to pay you when he pleases or when he can. If you find any inconvenience on the score of security, or if you foresee that you will need your money in a certain number of years, you have no other course to take but not to lend. It will be better to cause this merchant to miss a precious opportunity than to commit a sin so as to help him to take advantage of it." See what has been discovered in these five words, Mutuum date, nihil inde sperantes, when they have been looked at through the prejudices created by false metaphysics. Every man who reads this text without prejudice will see what it really means; and that is: "As men, as Christians, you are all brothers, all friends; act toward each other as brethren and friends; help each other in your necessities; let your purses be open to one another, and do not sell the assistance which you owe each other by demanding interest for the loan which charity makes your duty." This is the true sense of the passage in question. The obligation to lend without interest and the obligation to lend are evidently connected together; they are of the same order; and both inculcate a duty of charity, and not a precept of rigorous justice applicable to all cases in which lending is possible.