and with the fame Penance, and shall incurr Excommunication Ipfo facto, in all which Matters the Vicar must be very watchful for the prevention of all fuch Idolatries.

A

Decree VIII.

Great many ignorant Christians of this Bifhoprick being unmindful of the Purity of their Christian Obligations, do carry Notes about them which have been given them by Witches for the Cure of their Diftempers, hoping for relief from their vertue, hanging them likewife about the Necks of their Cattle to keep them well, and putting them in their Orchards to encrease the Fruit, and communicating them to several other things for various effects; all which the Synod detefting as Diabolical, doth command all that are guilty thereof to be feverely punished by the Prelate, and all Vicars not to permit any fuch Offenders to enter into the Church, nor to give them the Cafture, and no Priests to go to their Houfes, and they shall be compell'd to deliver all fuch Notes to their Vicars to be torn, and all that have used any of them, tho' they should never do it more, fhall be punished for the space of fix months with the faid Penalties.

Decree

Decree IX.

He Onzena, or practice of Ufury, is a grie

T vous Sin in the fight of God, and is

very

much condemned in the Scriptures, Chrift commanding us to lend to others, haping for nothing again, and the Synod being very much troubled to find the greatest part of the Chrifti-, ans of this Diocefs entangled therein, through their ignorance of what gains are lawful, and what are not, and of what may be kept, and what ought to be restored, doth therefore admonish in the Lord, all Faithful Chriftians to confult the Learned about these Matters, giving them an account of all their Contracts, in order to their being rightly instructed as to what they may lawfully take for Money they have lent out. And the Synod doth furthermore declare, that according to the best Information it has received, the Interest of Money in Malabar is Ten per Cent. and whatever is taken more, if the Principal runs no risk is Onzena, or Ufury, and as

Risk. Moft Convents in trading Cities lend out Money at 6 or 7 per Cent. and take as much care to fecure their Principal, as any Ufurer whatsoever, fo that the diftinction of Lucrum Ceffans, and Damnum emergens will either juftifie a legal Intereft in general, or it will not justifie what the lending Convents do. But tho' this Decree falls in exactly

with the common practice of the Church of Rome, the Monks and Friars not excepted, yet it plainly contradias the Doctrine of that Church, which is, that all fort of Ufury is a Mortal Sin; for if the taking of ro per cent. for Money, and that where the principal runs no risk, is not Ufury, it will be hard to tell what is.

to

to the Ten they fhall likewife confult the Learned, to whom they shall declare how Money may be improved in the place where it is lent, that fo they may be able to tell them, whether it be lawful for them to take so much, for it may happen that in fome places, there will not be fo much to be got by the Negotiating of Money, which must make fuch an high interest to be there unlawful, and whofoever shall take more than Ten per Cent. if his Principal runs no risk, after having been three times admonished by the Prelate or Vicar without Amendment shall be declared Excommunicate, and fhall not be abfolved until he has diffolved the faid Contract.

He

Decree X.

The Synod doth condemn the taking of One per Cent. by the month, where the Principal runs no risk, being fecured by a pledge, and of Two per Cent. by the Month, if the one is not payed punctually, fuch Contracts being very unjuft and manifeft Onzena, or Ufury, fo that nei ther the want of a pledge, nor any thing else can juftifie the taking of Two per Cent. by the month, if the Principal is not in danger, all which Contracts the Synod doth prohibit, and the Vicars to give their confent to any fuch, and where they are made to diffolve them, compelling all that are faulty therein by Penalties and Cenfures if it fhall be found neceffary: The Synod doth furthermore condemn their calling all Gain ari

of the SYNOD of Diamper.

399

fing from Money, Onzena, because it gives occafion for fome to imagine that all fuch Gain is unlawful, and notwithstanding fuch Gain is lawful, and may be justly taken in feveral Cafes, to fcruple the taking any.

Decree XI.

Hereas there are great numbers of Chriftians who for want of having the Fear of God and the Church before their Eyes, do cohabit publickly with Concubines, to the great fcandal of Christianity; the Vicars fhall therefore with great Charity admonish all fuch Offenders, three times declaring to them, That if they do not reform, they must declare them Excommunicate, and if after fo many Admonitions they do not turn away their Concubines, they must be Excommunicated until they are effectually parted, and be punished with other Penalties at the pleasure of the Prelate, according to the. time that they have lived in that Sin, and when it shall so happen that their Concubines are their Slaves, they fhall constrain them not only to turn them out of their Houses, but to fend them out of the Country where they live, that there may be no more danger of their relapfing, which fhall be likewise observed as to all other Women where there is the fame danger.

Decree

TH

He Synod doth very earnestly recommend it to all Masters and Fathers of Families, to be very watchful over the Lives and Manners of their Slaves and Servants, and the rather for having been informed, that most of the Black Wómen belonging to Chriftians in this Bishoprick, do lead very ill Lives in being publick Whores, and known to be fuch by their Masters, never going to Mafs or Confeffion, and being totally ignorant of the Chriftian Religion, their Masters taking no care to have them inftructed therein, or of the good of their Souls, notwithstanding the Obligation they are under of doing it, St. Paul having told us, that he that does not take care of his Family, is worse than an Infidel. Wherefore the Synod doth very much recommend it to the Vicars of Churches to be very watchful over, and to make diligent Inquiry into the Lives of the Slaves that are in their Parishes, and as they fball fee occafion to exhort their Masters, and oblige them not to fuffer their Slaves to live in a finful State.

Decree XIII.

7Hereas feveral poor wretched Chriftians fol. lowing the Custom of the Heathen among whom they live, when they find themselves pinched with any want, do, contrary to all right and

reafon,