The case of receiving the small-pox by inoculation, impartially considered, and especially in a religious view / Written in the year M.DCC.XXV by David Some and now published from the original manuscript by P. Doddridge.

Some, David

Date:: 1750

Credit: The case of receiving the small-pox by inoculation, impartially considered, and especially in a religious view / Written in the year M.DCC.XXV by David Some and now published from the original manuscript by P. Doddridge. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$Thefe Things muft be acknowledged ai very inviting, and may furely be fufficient to engage thofe who have Occafion to think of them, ferioufiy to confider whether the Pradice be Lawful. If it be, it ought cer¬ tainly to be countenanced by thofe, who have a due Concern for themfelves and fuitable Regards to their Fellow-Creatures j for ’tis of too great Importance to be regarded as In¬ different. But if it be in its own Nature a moral Evil, and difpleafing to Almighty Gor>, it muft certainly be rejeded, how con- liderable fo ever its Advantages may appear. For iiis never allowable “ to do Evil that Good ‘‘ may corne'^:” Norfhould the Profped of efcaping the greateft Dangers or Calamities in Life, tempt us to offend ‘‘ him who can “ caft both Soul and Body into Hell-f-.’* We will therefore proceed to examine thofe Objedions, which are commonly advan¬ ced againft the Lawfulnefs of Inoculation. And here, the firft and moft obvious is, That it is bringing a Diftemper upon our felves, and thereby ufurping the “ facred Prerogative of God, who kills and makes alive, who w’ounds and “ heals, as he pleafes § In Anfwer to this I might enquire, what they who ftart this Difficulty, intend by the Word [Diftemper] ? If they mean Sick- nefs and Pain^ it'is pradifed every Day, and perhaps Rom. iii\ 8. f Mat. x. 2$, § Deut, xxxii. 39.$