A
LETTER
TO A
Friend in the Country,
Attempting a Solution of the
Scruples & Objections of
a Conscientious or Religious
Nature, commonly made
against the New way of
receiving the Small-Pox.
By a MINISTER in BOSTON.
Luke 6. 9. Then said Jesus unto them, I will ask you one
thing, IS IT LAWFULL TO SAVE LIFE, OR
TO DESTROY IT?
Acts 5. 38. 39. And now I say unto you, Refrain from
these Men, and let them alone: for if this counsel, or
this work be of Men, it will come to nought: But if it
be of GOD, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be
found even to fight against GOD.
BOSTON: Printed by S.KNEELAND, for
S. GERRISH, at his Shop in Corn-Hill.
MDCCXXI.

 

(1) 
To my Friend in the Country.
Sir,
THE new Method of receiving the
Small-Pox by Incision (or Inocu-
lation as 'tis commonly call'd)
has been, you know, the Subject
not only of plentiful Discourse;
but of angry Debate and fierce
Contention among us in this Town. And it
is a very unhappy Circumstance attending us
here, that almost every thing that is now
done or doing among us, if it be at all of a
publick nature, creates Heats and Animosities.
I am in hopes our good People will by and by
be sensible of the folly and mischief of this,
and come to such a Temper as will suffer them
to differ from one another without being
angry with one another. In the mean time,
I hope that the People in other Towns where
A2 the

(2) 
the Distemper has made its Entrance, will pre-
serve better Temper, if any among them.
should put this Method into Practice.
HOWEVER some among us may appear
against it out of Party and Prejudice, or make
an Engine of it to serve Designs, not friendly
to the Peace and true Interest of the Place,
yet there are many who are Conscientiously
averse to it, I believe; and, if there preserve
the Meekness of Wisdom; they are (as a very
Reverend Person has lately said of them)
greatly to be commended and honour'd in 
that they will not act against a doubting
Conscience. 
I perceive that the Scruples and Objections
commonly offer'd by People here, have such
a force upon your Mind, as keeps you from
going into this Method which may be your
Safety and Preservation. Now Friendship,
(the Offices of which should be sacredly re- 
garded by us,) obliges me to attempt to re-
lieve and help you, in a Matter wherein
your life, so precious in it self, and deserv-
edly dear to me, is to much concerned.
For Satisfaction about the Safety of this
Method in an ordinary way of Providence,
together with the Easiness of it, I refer you
to the Observations on it made and publish'd
by the Reverend Mr. Colman; of the greatest 
part of which Matters of Fact by him related,
I have my self been an Eye witness.
BUT

(3) 
BUT that which you want Satisfaction
about is, the Scruples and Objections of a
Conscientious or Religious Nature, which are
commonly offer'd by People against this
Method. These, I shall endeavour to answer
and resolve, as I am able, in a few words;
and if they afford you any Light or Satis-
faction respecting the same, you may com-
municate them to whom you please; and
if it should be tho't worth while to make
them public, I think none can censure me
for starting out of my Line, or medling with
what is none of my Business, since the thing,
I am now upon relates to Religion and
Conference. 
ONE great thing urg'd against this Practice
is, That it is not lawful for me to make my self
sick when I am well: Or voluntarily to bring a
Distemper upon my self. To bring Sickness,
upon ones self for its own sake, is what no,
Man in his right wits would do. But to make,
my self Sick in such a way, as may probably 
serve my Health, and save my Life, and with
such a Design is certainly fitting and Reasona-
ble, and therefore lawful, This is every day
practis'd among People without any Scruple, 
in Purges and Vomits, and other things in
Medical Use. Now, if I may lawfully make
my self Sick by taking something in at my
mouth, why not by putting something in at
my Arm? Or, if I may lawfully make my
self Sick for one dqy, why not for two days,
or 

(4) 
or more, as the Case may require? Are, 
but this is to bring a Distemper upon my self.
I think it can hardly be call'd bringing it upon
my self, when the Case is so with me, (not
having had the Distemper, and living in an
infected Air) that I can't but expect to
undergo it in a very little time. I know
indeed GOD can preserve me from the In-
fection, but when my Neighbours all round
me are visited, I know of no Warrant that any
particular Person has to expect an extraordinary
Preservation. He that has no reason to think,
but that he is as liable to the Small-Pox as other
people are, and yet keeps in the Way of it,
expecting that God will preserve him untouch'd,
however some may give it the Name of Trust 
and Faith, and the like, I cannot but look upon
it and call it Presumption. In short, I can't
but think, when I am in such Circumstances,
that I cannot rationally nor warrantably expect
to escape the Distemper, it is then lawful for
me to bring upon my self a lessen Degree of it,
to prevent a greater. I'll put the Case thus,
If I have not had the Small-Pox, it is to be sup-
posed, there is in my body, what I'll call the
Fuel of that Distemper, and there only wants
the lighting of a spark to set this Fuel on
burning. The air I breath in is full of these
sparks; and I may expect every Breath I fetch
to draw some of them in: If now it appears
upon daily Experience, that making an In-
cision in my Arm, and letting the Spark in that 
way, the Fuel will burn with less fierceness,
and 

(5) 
and consequently danger; why may'nt I take
it in that way? Why must I needs stay till
it come in at my Mouth or Nostrils, or thro'
some of the porous Parts of my body? For
my part, I think the Law of Self-Preservation,
which is GOD's Law, requires me to take this
Method of Safety, whereby (to use the apt
Words of another,) the Disease is, thro' GOD's
common Blessing, happily converted into a
Remedy.
WHAT then, will you not wait GOD's Time
for it? They ask, I think then is the Time
Providence calls me to this Method of Safety,
when I am in imminent and immediate danger
of the Distemper the other way. Should
any one go into the Practice of Inoculation,
out of a fancy or Bravado, without his being
in known hazard of the Distemper by the
common way of Infection, I should not think
it warrantable. But then is GOD's time for
us to use means of Safety, when we are in
apparent danger of any deadly or destructive
Evil.
But then, 'tis ask'd again, What can't you
trust GOD?—I suppose every body will allow
that the use of Means is not inconsistent with
Trust in GOD, and why there can't be Trust
in GOD in the Use of this means, as well as
other, I can not imagine. Why, it is a going
from GOD to Man, some say. What then,
can't we make Use of Men and Means in a time
of danger without going from GOD? If any,
A4 like 

(6) 
like Asa, look to the Physician, and not to the
LORD. They are very irreligious and profane
therein. But if any do principally and in the
first place seek to GOD, may they not then
innocently and lawfully make use of the best
humane help the Providence of GOD affords
them? I must profess and declare on the part
of many of the Inoculated, that they and
their Friends concerned in them, have gone
into the Practice with many Prayers to GOD,
and other suitable expressions of Trust and
Devotion. 
BUT still some say, this Practise looks to
them like taking God's work out of his
hand.—Indeed this Distemper can arrest
none without a Commission from God.
But yet, it is not inflicted by God's im-
mediate hand; we receive it in a natural way,
and by means of second Causes; and this we do
in the way of Inoculation, as well as of common
Infection. If we have the Small Pox: in either
of these ways, it is still the work of God;
For all second Causes depend on and act under
him the first Cause. And, the Application of
Means natural for this or that end, is it not an
Application to the God of nature? If God does
not co-operate by His actual Providence can the
Effect be produc'd. For, who is he that faith,
and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth
it not? What is there of the band or power of
man in this work, after the Incision is made
and the matter apply'd. The work is
still

(7)
still lest with God, and we must wait upon Him
for his actual Influence and Blessing, even as
the husbandman does for the Rain and Shines
of Heaven, after the Seed is thrown into the
Earth. 
But the Small Pox is a Judgment of God,
sent to punish and bumble us for our Sins; and
what shall we so evade it, and think to turn it a-
way from us? I fully agree to it, that it is a
fore Jugdment of God upon us for our Sins,
which we have much deserv'd; And it is
greatly to be lamented that it has no better
Effect upon the hearts of Men—. But
is it Unlawful to use means for our Preservation
From a desolating Judgment? Especially, if at
the very time that God sends the Judgment,
He shews us a way to escape the Extremity
and Destruction at least, if not the touch of
it. If a gracious God shews us so much Mer-
cy as this under the Judgment, does it become
us to put it away from our selves, or rather
should we not accept it with Adoring Thanks-
fulness? If this Town was to suffer an In-
undation, that would be a more terrible Judg-
ment than this, and we should look upon it
too as a righteous Punishment for our Sins;
yet would any refuse to make use of a Boat,
or a Plank that mighty providentially come in his
way, thinking that to do it would be a crimi-
nal Evading the Judgment? I know not,
BUT, some have said to me, This Method
tends to take off the fears of this Distemper from
the Minds of people; and who knows of what
Spiritual 

(8) 
Spiritual Advantage these fears might be to them?
In Answer to it I ask them, Whether GOD
cannot make the Mercy of their Preservation
and recovery in this Way of Spiritual Advan-
tage to them also, and by that lead them to
Repentance? And, I truly hope, the Salva-
tion of GOD bestow'd upon some in this way, 
as well as the other, will have a gracious 
sanctifying Effect upon them, under the
powerful working of the Spirit of Grace. I 
was glad to see the serious Frames some of 
them were in at the very time, how much 
affected they seem'd to be with the favour of
GOD to them; what a good Profession of 
holy Resolution, some of them made. And I 
would take this Opportunity to call upon 
them from GOD to remember the same, and
to be daily performing their Vows.
SOME Object against the Practice. because of
the Unhappy Consequent of it among us; the
Feuds and Contention, Sin and Mischief that it 
has occasion'd.—Of this, I hope, I am a
mournful Spectator; And it has made me
sundry times ready to take up that Wish, Oh
that I had Wings like a Dove! And I must
freely declare, that I look upon that Spirit
of Party and Division that is reigning among
us, to be a sorer Judgment of GOD upon us,
than the distemper which has so distress'd us. 
But yet, I am far from thinking that the
Badness of the thing in it's self is to be argu'd
or infer'd from this Effect of it. For does
not 

(9) 
not the same Effect attend many other things
unquestionably good in themselves; such as
the building of Houses for the Worship of
GOD, the Choice of Ministers, and of Persons
to serve in the State, &c. Nay, the very
preaching of the Gospel in the World, tho'
it be the Gospel of Peace, and the Gospel of
Salvation too, has been, and is, accidentally, thro'
the Corruption of Mens hearts, and under the
Influence of the envious Enemy of Mankind,
the Occasion of all this; according as our
Saviour has foretold that it would be, say-
ing as Mat. 10. 34, 35. Think not that I am
come to send Peace on Earth: I came not to send
Peace but a Sword. For I am come to set a Man
at variance against his Father, and the Daughter
against her Mother, and the Daughter-in-law
against her Mother-in-law. And a Mans foes
shall be they of his own house.
SOME frame an Objection against this Practice
from the Decrees of GOD. They say that
GOD has predetermined and fixed the Period of
every ones life, beyond which nothing shall protract
it; so that if this time become Inoculation will
not save the Persons life. But this Argument
may as well be urg'd against the Use of all
Physick, nay even of Food, as against this Practice.
I truly believe, as my Bible teaches me, that
GOD has fix'd the Period of every ones life;
but I also believe that He has done it with a
Regard to second Causes, or that Course of Na-
ture which he has established; the End and
Means 

(10) 
Means are determind together. He that has
fix'd in his own Counsel how long we shall
live, has also determin'd that by such and,
such means our lives shall be continu'd to that
Period of time. And how does any one know,
but this is to be the appointed Means, of their
Preservation in life? 
SOME have ask'd Whether we could assure
them their lives in this Way? It is strange
that any should put the Question! When
there is none can give the Assurance of this
not in the most innocent and common Means.
that are every day made use of: Why then
shou'd they demand it in this. I know of
one who died under a Vomit. Another, whom
I also knew, died by pulling out a Tooth;
the bleeding at the Gums after the Extraction
of the Tooth could not be stopt, and in a few
hours he died. And for my own part, as much
as I am now for Inoculation, I am not at all
shy to say, that a Person may miscarry under
it: For GOD is Sovereign, and will keep us
in a dependance upon Him in the use of all
means, But if it be safe under the common
Blessing of GOD, that is sufficient to warrant
me to venture upon it, when there is Occa-
sion. Nay, if one in an hundred should die
in this way, while there is Demonstration (as
there then would be) that it is ten times as
safe as the common way of infection. This, I
humbly conceive, would be sufficient to justify
my going into it: Tho' I must confess, in this
particular, I was once of another mind.
BUT 

(11) 
But suppose. I should die in the way of Ino-
culation, would it not make a dying hour very
dark to me, to think that I us'd means to bring
it upon my self? This is a Question I must
confess, has been the most affecting to me,
of any that have related to this matter. But
after the most serious consideration I have
bestow'd upon it, I thus think, "If a person
should die under Inoculation, he dies in the
use of the most likely means, he knew of, to
save his life in a time of common peril, he
dies then in the Way of Duty, and so in GOD's
Way: If the Blessing is deny'd, he must hum-
bly resign this his frail life unto the GOD of
it, Looking for the Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ
unto Eternal Life. 
THERE is one thing more said against this
Practice, which I am loth to take Notice of,
because of the—of it, but it being so fre-
quently in the Mouths of People, I cannot but
name it. 'Tis this, that it is originally from
the Devil. Sure this is the effect of Transport, &c.
I will return a better answer to it than it de-
serves. If it be a Method of Safety, and a
Benefit to Mankind, as hitherto it appears to
be, how came the Devil to be the Author of
it. Was he ever a Benefactor to Mankind?
No: But he is a Murderer from the beginning.
Every Age of the World produces some new
and useful Discoveries in one Profession, Art
and Science or another: And, if this Disco- 
very 

(12) 
very be reserv'd for our Day, why should it
not be accepted in all places with all Thankful-
ness? In a word, I cannot but think, it's Ori-
ginal deriv'd else where, because my Bible
teaches me that every good & perfect Gift
comes down from the Father of Lights.
As to that Objection of the danger of others
catching the Distemper of the Inoculated,
there needs only this to be said; That as 'tis
to be suppos'd, the Practise will not be gone
into till the danger of Infection becomes com-
mon in a place, so, there may be methods easily
taken to prevent its hazarding others that 
can't yet come into it. And I think there
ought to be a prudent Care in this respect.
THUS, my Friend, I have freely given you
my Tho'ts, about this, Practice so much spoken
against. I must now leave you to judge for
your self; praying GOD to shew you his Way. 
If you come into the Practice, I know you
will not do it in carnal Security; for that may
provoke GOD to deny the blessing, And, if
GOD please to give it the desir'd Success,
you'l religiously give Glory to Him, not only
for delivering you from Death, but for saving
you from such a bed of Corruption, as others
have many wearisome days and nights appointed
them in; you'l think your self the more ob-
ligd to thank and praise your kind Physician,
(I mean the Great One) who has wro't your 
Cure by so gentle a Method. 
I 

(13) 
I have no more to add but my Prayers, that
you and I may be made meet for, and, in
GOD's time, bro't safe to, that World where
there shall be no more Sickness, nor any more
Death; where Sin, and all the penal Conse-
quences of it, shall be done away for ever.
I am,
Your hearty Friend & Servant.
Boston, Novemb.
20th. 1721.