Stilltheforcesofrightreasonpressedon，andamongthem，intheseventeenthcentury，inFrance，wasRichardSimon。HeattemptedtoglossoverthedeclarationsofScriptureagainstlendingatinterest，inanelaboratetreatise，butwasimmediatelyconfrontedbyBossuet。JustasBossuethadmingledScripturewithastronomyandopposedtheCopernicantheory，sonowhemingledScripturewithpoliticaleconomyanddenouncedthelendingofmoneyatinterest。HecalledattentiontothefactthattheScriptures，thecouncilsoftheChurchfromthebeginning，thepopes，thefathers，hadallinterpretedtheprohibitionof“usury“tobeaprohibitionofanylendingatinterest；andhedemonstratedthisinterpretationtobethetrueone。Simonwasputtoconfusionandhisbookcondemned。
TherewasbuttoomuchreasonforBossuet’sinterpretation。
Therestoodthefactthattheprohibitionofoneofthemostsimpleandbeneficialprinciplesinpoliticalandeconomicalsciencewasaffirmed，notonlybythefathers，butbytwenty-eightcouncilsoftheChurch，sixofthemgeneralcouncils，andbyseventeenpopes，tosaynothingofinnumerabledoctorsintheologyandcanonlaw。AndtheseprohibitionsbytheChurchhadbeenacceptedasofdivineoriginbyallobedientsonsoftheChurchinthegovernmentofFrance。SuchrulersasCharlestheBaldintheninthcentury，andSt。Louisinthethirteenth，hadrivetedthisideaintothecivillawsofirmlythatitseemedimpossibleevertodetachit。[455]
[455]ForthedeclarationoftheSorbonneintheseventeenthcenturyagainsttakingofinterest，seeLecky，Rationalism，vol。
ii，p。248，note。ForthespecialcondemnationbyInnocentXI，seeViva，DamnataeTheses，Pavia，1715，pp。112-114。Forconsiderationofvariouswaysofescapingthedifficultyregardinginterest，seeLecky，Rationalism，vol。ii，pp。249，250。ForBousset’sstrongdeclarationagainsttakinginterest，seehisOeuvres，Paris，1845-’46，vol。i，p。734，vol。vi，p。