Full Faith and Credit Clause

“ B. Given the significance of these considerations, application of the internal affairs doctrine is not merely a principle of conflicts law. It is also one of serious constitutional proportions -- under due process, the commerce clause and the full faith and credit clause -- so that the law of one state governs the relationships of a corporation to its stockholders, directors and officers in matters of internal corporate governance. The alternatives present almost intolerable consequences to the corporate enterprise and its managers. ”

“ An honourable man would a hundred times rather accept a loan as a matter of profit to the lender than as a charity to himself. The right result of an honourable system of borrowing and lending with equal advantage to both, is the will of God, and not contrary to sanctification. The result of a compulsory system of charitable loans would lead only to the destruction of credit and mutual confidence, and the sacrifice of a multitude of Christian graces and virtues. ”

“ It is one of the noble things in international commerce, as we shall see, that men trust each other across the oceans, and lay millions of value upon the faith of a single firm. As the core of the Christian religion is confidence in a Person, so the very substance of credits is a natural and in general well-grounded faith in persons as such.
A Credit, then, may be defined to be a Right to demand something of somebody; and a Debt to be an Obligation to pay something to somebody. What always lies, accordingly, between creditors and debtors, are Rights coupled with Obligations ”

“ This is a debt, a sacred obligation which you owe, not only to the authorities of this Church and kingdom, but you owe it to your brethren whose cries and prayers are ascending up to God; and if you withhold that which belongs to them—that which they should enjoy, their prayers will recoil on your heads, not in blessings, but in curses.
We all say here, that we are blessed; we say our labor and toil have been blessed; I am sure of it. Can we work out our salvation? ”

“ Think of the church and its work in this world; of missions at home and abroad, and the thousand agencies for winning men from sin to God and Holiness. Is it indeed true that the coin of this world, by being cast into [Pg 19] God's treasury in the right spirit, can receive the stamp of the mint of heaven, and be accepted in exchange for heavenly blessings? It is true. The gifts of faith and love go not only into the Church's treasury, but into God's own treasury, and are paid out again in heavenly goods. ”

“ Who can tell how much in this present life the Divine Justice may exact in payment of the debt he owes to God, or whether his penances have gained for him the entire, or only the partial, remittance at God's hands of that temporal penalty which he has to undergo; and who, in the life to come, when he can only satisfy by burning fire, will not think that a fearful mode of payment?—a payment, too, which will be exacted of him to the last farthing. ”

“ The blood of Christ is indeed the price of our redemption, or that for the sake of which we are delivered from the curse of the law: but this metaphorical language, as well as that of head and members, may be carried too far, and may lead us into many errors. In cases of debt and credit among men, where a surety undertakes to represent the debtor, from the moment his undertaking is accepted, the debtor is free, and may claim his liberty, not as a matter of favour, at least on the part of the creditor, but of strict justice. ”

“ There is no credit without debt, and no debt without credit. The very words imply a belief of one of the two parties in a commercial promise made by the other, and also an obligation acknowledged by this party as due to the first. There is a basis for credit in human nature. Faith in each other to a certain extent is natural to men. Whatever enlarges the intellectual foresight, and especially the moral character of men, opens a broader and surer field for Credits. Civilization, so-called, and Christianity certainly, deepens and broadens the natural trust of man in man. ”

“ In the primitive ages of christianity, the lending at interest was certainly reputed to be unlawful on most occasions. That spirit of charity, to all who were in want, was so warped in with the doctrine of our religion, that a borrower was constantly considered to be in 113that situation. ”

“ As soon as a nation compels a creditor to take paper currency in discharge of his debt, there is a bankruptcy. The compulsory paper has in some degree answered,—not because there was a surplus from Church lands, but because faith has not been kept with the clergy. ”

“ One man says, "I owe the Church the money, it is true, but I believe I shall break and not pay it." They want to get their money into the safe and then break. If they owed a Gentile they would pay their debts, they would work, and toil, and labor, day and night, to pay their enemy; but when they owe the Church and kingdom of God they can lie down and sleep in peace, though they owe thousands of dollars, and say, "O! well, it is all in the family, we are all one, it is no matter whether the debt is paid or not." ”

“ There is a class of men here who do not know but what they will apostatize by-and-bye, and they do not wish anybody in debt to them, nor do they wish to owe anybody. You had better be about square, the whole of you that wish to apostatize and go off, for you cannot leave the country with your debts unpaid. The better way is to keep in the faith, and pay your debts. ”

“ To provide for the expense, each house is asked to contribute a certain amount of money—the Christians along with the rest. There is no legal compulsion in the matter, but every one contributes, and there is a moral necessity to do so. Now what stand shall the Christian church take on this matter? ”

“ That any church whose lot it may fall to, at the Association, to have its debt paid, who shall the next year pay the half of its debt, shall be considered to have fulfilled its agreement, and shall be liable only to its small contribution at the rate of ten shillings for every £100 debt so redeemed. ”

“ Wherefore if a person is under an obligation to give an account to someone or to pay a certain fixed debt, he cannot lawfully evade this obligation in order to enter religion. If, however, he owes a sum of money, and has not wherewithal to pay the debt, he must do what he can, namely by surrendering his goods to his creditor. ”

“ We do not regard sins as debts for which payment can be made to God; but we may fairly assert that on this principle rests the whole scheme of orthodoxy. What are the atonement and righteousness of Christ but a payment or equivalent to God for the salvation of the elect?—the very nature of the system implies this idea, and in truth it is the only idea that gives it even the appearance of consistency; for crime as such cannot be punished in the person of another, but a debt can be fairly paid by the money of another. ”

“ And let me here say, I very much doubt whether God will hear the prayers of any man that owes a just debt, and has means to pay it, but refuses to do it: or withholds a blessing from his fellow when it is in his power to extend it. What is his prayer? "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors," or in other words—"Do towards us, as we do towards others;" if we withhold benefits due to others, how can God bestow blessings upon us that are not our due, but are the acts of His mercy and kindness? ”

“ Nor is it a trust or use growing out of the sixty-eighth part granted to the respective proprietors, for it is exclusive of these shares by the very terms of the charter. The grant is in the same clause with that to the society for the propagation of the gospel, and in the same language, and ought, therefore, to receive the same construction, unless repagnant to the context, or manifestly requiring a different one. It is very clear that the society for the prepagation of the gospel take a legal, and not a merely equitable estate ”

“ A revived church will become a giving church, and a giving church is the fore-herald of a converted world.
How much owest thou thy Lord? That is the question which the giver has to face. Sometimes in commercial circles a man will assign a debt that is owing him to some one else, out of friendship, that he may take it when he has collected it and use it for himself. Much in the same way, I think, the Lord Jesus has assigned a large portion of the debt which we owe to him to those who are around us—to the unconverted at our doors, to those races among whom you labor, to the pagans far away. ”

“ We come now to considering the necessity of the ordinance of baptism. When men have repented of their sins it is natural for them to desire a forgiveness of those sins. How shall this boon be obtained? That repentance alone does not blot out the sins of the past may be illustrated in part by a comparison between the temporal and the spiritual. A man acquires a debt by purchasing goods on credit, and finding it a ruinous policy, resolves, for the future, to pay as he goes. ”

“ We receive all the good things from God, and we give Him nothing in return. Then we have no means to pay this debt, so Jesus Christ, because He love us, say He pay it, and God say He accept His payment and set us free. Den I say to the people, Do you believe dis? If you do, and try to love God, and serve God, and do what Jesus Christ did when He was on earth, den you have living faith, and you are free, and God no say longer that you owe Him debt, but He call you His dear children, and when you leave this world He receive you in heaven. ”

“ One is legal debt, to pay which man is compelled by law; and thus man owes honor and worship to those persons in positions of dignity who are placed over him. The other is moral debt, which is due by reason of a certain honesty: it is in this way that we owe worship and honor to persons in positions of dignity even though we be not their subjects. ”

“ Why, the debt is owing to God, and God (in the person of Jesus Christ) pays it—pays it to himself. We will illustrate. A man approaches his neighbor, and says, "Sir, I owe you a thousand dollars, but can never pay it." ”

“ Rights and duties of the creditor.—Money interest.—Usury.—And first, is it a duty to loan to any that ask you? It [Pg 72] is evident that if it is a duty it can be only a duty of charity, or friendliness, but not of strict justice. One is no more obliged to loan to all than to give to all. The duty of loaning, like the duty of giving without discrimination, would be tantamount to the negation of property; for he who would open his money-chest to all unconditionally, however rich he might be, would in a few days be absolutely despoiled. ”

“ In his view, faith is not mystic, supernatural, an exceptional development; it is the common basis of our dealings with each other. Credit, trust, confidence––the framework of society rests upon these. 'I can not trust you'––what worse thing can we say to one another? The law recognises every man's right to the confidence of his fellowmen, and will have a man accounted innocent until he is proven guilty. Our whole commercial and banking systems, what are they but enormous systems of credit, and only one in a hundred, or one in a thousand, fails to sustain this credit. ”

“ Societies or private individuals can free from the obligation of paying or returning to them what they have a right to, as when a creditor forgives a debt, or an owner permits a thief to keep what he stole. In so doing, however, they do not dispense from the law of nature that one should pay one’s debts and not keep ill-gotten goods ”

“ Thus, the law of God commands us to render to each that which is his due; to retrench, in order to pay those debts incurred through our excesses, and not to permit that our unfortunate creditors suffer by our senseless profusions. ”

“ It is objected that this corporation is not empowered under its charter to accept and administer this charity. But it is a novel proposition, as inconsistent with the rules of law as it is with the dictates of religion, that a Christian church or religious society cannot receive and distribute money to poor churches of its own denomination so as to promote that cause of religion in the state in which it is established. ”

“ When we have shared the benefit of any charitable bequest, more especially when we hold a portion of it in our own hands, that ought to be benefiting others, how can we expect God, or any other philanthropist, to extend to us blessings?
What is the duty of the Saints who have come here by the aid and benefit of the Perpetual Emigrating Fund? It is their duty to pay back the debt they owe immediately. "But," says one, "we cannot pay, we have no means." ”

“ One who doubts positively and in good faith whether the restitution owed by him has been paid (e.g., whether his fellows in calumny have paid their portions of restitution, whether he has paid a bill for goods or services received) is held to full payment by some, to part (_pro rata_) payment by others, to nothing by others. Some moralists think the presumption favors the creditor, others that it favors the debtor, others that it favors neither and that a compromise is the right solution. ”

“ In every mission where money is contributed by the faithful in the ways hereafter described it is to be accounted Church property, and not a donation to the priest. For from this money he must provide not only for his own decent support, but for the expense of religious worship, for the maintenance of the fabric, for payment of debts, where there are any, and for other wants. Wherefore, if any priest leave a mission during the course of the year, he has not a right to his proportion of the yearly income until the amount justly due for expenses be deducted. ”

“ Madam, do you not find in the country you inhabit a great many devotees who are sunk in debt, whose fortune is squandered away on priests, and who are incapable of retrieving it? Content to put their conscience to rights on religious matters, they neither trouble themselves about the education of their children, nor the arrangement of their fortune, nor the discharge of their debts. Such men as would be thrown into despair did they omit one mass, will consent to leave their creditors without their money, ruined by their negligence as much as by their principles. ”