An answer to a late pamphlet, intitled, A letter to a friend in the country, attempting a solution of the scruples and objections of a consciencious or religious nature, commonly made against the new way of receiving the small pox. By a minister of Boston. Together with a short history of the late divisions among us in affairs of state, and some account of the first cause of them. / By John Williams. ; [Four lines from Hosea]

An answer to a late pamphlet, intitled, A letter to a friend in the country, attempting a solution of the scruples and objections of a consciencious or religious nature, commonly made against the new way of receiving the small pox. By a minister of Boston. Together with a short history of the late divisions among us in affairs of state, and some account of the first cause of them. / By John Williams. ; [Four lines from Hosea]

Table of contents

Title page

TO THE Worthy SELECT MEN Of the Town of Boston, Together with my Neighbours that have so learned and believed that the Doctrine of Inoculation is not contained in the Law of Physick.

AN ANSWER, &c.

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AN ANSWER To a Late PAMPHLET, INTITLED, A LETTER to a Friend in the Country, attempting a Solution of the Scruples and Objections of a Consciencious or Religious Nature, commonly made against the new Way of receiving the Small Pox. By a Minister of Boston. Together with A Short History of the late Divisions among us in Affairs of State, and some Account of the first Cause of them.

By JOHN WILLIAMS.

Hos. 9. 7.

The days of [...] are come, the days of recompence are come, Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the [...] man is mad, for the multitude of thine Iniquity, and the great hatred.

BOSTON: Printed and sold by J. Franklin, at his Printing-House in Queen-Street, over against Mr. [...] School. 1722.

TO THE Worthy SELECT MEN Of the Town of Boston, Together with my Neighbours that have so learned and believed that the Doctrine of Inoculation is not contained in the Law of Physick.

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GENTLEMEN,

I Offer this Treatise also as a Sign of [...] Duty and Respects to you, with a [...] sire that what is amiss in the Town may be mended, that there may be Peace in the Churches of Him who is the Prince of Peace.

To show the evil of Inoculation, I shall offer you the following Testimonies against it, & leave them to your Consideration.

[Page] One of my Neighbours informs me, that he saw a Doctor in Germany whipt out of Town, for inoculating the Small Pox into five Persons.

A Master of a Vessel also, (whom I wish a good Voyage to Ireland if gone) says, That he saw a Doctor at Alexandria, for inoculating the Small Pox into Eight Persons, tryed before their Senate, and being found guilty, was sentenced to be mounted on an Ass, and at the Corner of every Street to be bastinado'd on his Fe [...]et, in his way to the Place of Execution, where a Scaffold being built, he was executed.

Doctor Robert Richards, Member of the Colledge of Physicians in London (who has allowed me to use his Name) declared to me before Witness, That in the second Act which Queen Anne signed were these Words, That if any mortal or contagious Disease shall come into this Kingdom, the Colledge of Physicians shall immediately assemble, and consult of proper Medicines to cure it, in order to prevent its spreading: And if any Doctor, Quack, or any other Person, shall do any thing that may spread it, they shall suffer Death. Now by this Time I hope it appears, that if any Person will be so hardy, as to go on in a Practice against Reason and Law, the Grand Jury will not be at a Loss to find a Bill against them.

Your Humble Servant, John Williams.

AN ANSWER, &c.

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Honoured SIR,

I Have not taken Notice of some Paragraphs, as if I affected Contention; but am wiling to set things in a true light, that you may know where we differ in Judgment.

You say, One great thing urged against this Practice is, that it is not lawful Sir, it is the great Scruple with me; and solve this with a Thus faith the Lord, and all other Objections will fall; which till you do, suffer me to dissent from you in Judgment, tho' not in Affection.

You say, 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 reasonable, and therefore lawful.

Reply. I deny it to be fitting or reasonable, because 'tis a going out of God's Way, inasmuch as 'tis not contained in the Law of Physick, either natural or divine▪ and therefore unlawful.

Again, you say, There is the Fuel of this Distemper in my Body, and it only wants the Spark to set this Fuel a burning; Why may I not let it in by Incision, when it may be easier, and of less Danger.

Reply. Because its not God's way, but its a mixing of humane Inventions with the Rules of Physick. [Page] Lev. 10. 1. And Nadab and Abihu took either of them their Censers, and put Fire therein, and put Incense thereon, and offered strange Fire before the Lord, which be commanded them not. Now an Action must be right with respect to the Method of doing it, as well as with respect to the end or event, or it corresponds not with the Sixth Commandment, but is a breaking of all the Law and Commandments. Now to propose to do something in Obedience to one Commandment, which does Violence unto the rest, cannot be allowed to be the keeping of that.

Again, you say, In this way we receive it in a natural way; (which I deny, for it is Anti-natural,) and if we receive it in either way, it is still the Work of God.

Reply. I distinguish between the Works of God, as they are good or evil. Now the Work of God may be consider'd good, as he wills it, and by his Power effects it; but as Actions may be consider'd evil, so he willingly permits it.

Again, you say, What is there of the Hand or Power of Man in this Work after the Incision is made, and the Matter applyed. Answer. There is the dressing of the Incision Seven or Eight Days. And Sir, if you think the Patient is under the Hand of God after the Incision is made, why cannot you as well let him stay till God sees meet to bring the Distemper upon him. You allow that the cutting the Incision, and putting the Matter in, is the Hand and Power of Man; which is as much as to say, (what I should be loth to say) That you set your Maker to work, by making the Incision for Him; and so you make Inoculation partly in the Hand and Power of Man, and partly in the Hand and Power of God: But I tell you, Sir, the Action is entirely humane, as not agreeing with the Law of Physick, either natural or divine, and an Intrusion upon the incommunicable Attributes of God, who [Page] hath said, I kill, and I make alive, I wound, and I heal..

Again, you say, Should this Town be to suffer an Inundation, from a Righteous God for the Punishment of their Sins, would any think it to be a Criminal Evasion to save their Lives by a Boat or a Plank?

Sir, the Simile I conceive reaches not the Case. I distinguish between a doing what is lawful to prevent any Sickness that is sent as a Judgment upon a People, and a voluntary Act of our own in putting forth our Hands to reach the Judgment to our selves, that so by this Means we may avert the Stroke of Heaven, by turning of it out of the ordinary way of Providence. But now I shall state the Case of this Similitude, and I think more adapted to the matter in hand. Suppose the Water should be kept out of this Town by Floodgates, and upon the Approach of some very high Tide, which would overflow or break down the Gates, a Man should open the Gates a little so as that the Water might come in gradually to prevent its breaking down the Gates, if notwithstanding the Flood should be greater than he expected (as sometimes in the Case of Inoculation) and overflow the Town, if he can have neither Boat nor Plank to save his Life, will it not be just upon him for his presumptuous Action? Now God hath as many ways to punish a People, save one (to wit, by the Small Pox, which you say is a Blessing when receiv'd by Inoculation) as he had before: Therefore prepare to meet thy God, O Zion, (in a way of Duty) and do not go into the Inventions of the Heathen, whom the Lord cast our before thee.

Again, Is it unlawful to use Means for our Preservation from a desolating Judgment, especially if at that time God shows us a way to escape the Severity of it?

I answer, I shall keep evermore the Distinction (which is laudable and good) between God's shewing [Page] us the way of Self-preservation, and his permitting of Man to go into his own by-ways, which never entered into God's Heart.

Again, you say, Some object and say, Tis originaly from the Devil▪ (which is too true to make a Jest of.) You answer, If it is 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, who is a Murderer from the beginning. I answer, the Devil hath many ways to advance his own Ends, for he is an old Sophister, we know. And now, Sir, if I may be suffered to speak my own digested Thoughts; with grief of Heart I do seriously believe its a Delusion of the Devil; and that there was never the like Delusion in New-England, since the Time of the Witchcraft at Salem, when so many innocent Persons lost their Lives, and afterwards some of them that were instrumental in taking their Lives away, made a Recantation. And that this People may see their Error and recant, is the sole Reason of my putting of Pen to Paper and Prayer to the God of Truth, that this People may see their Error. Now I will show you how Satan may advance his Interest and that in his own old Way, Gen. 3. 1. And he said unto the Woman. Yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every Tree in the Garden? Verse 4, 5. And the Serpent said, ye shall not surely die, (in this new way.) For God doth know, that in the Day ye eat thereof, then your Eyes shall be opened. Now Satan had a double end in this; as first, The breaking of God's righteous Law; and secondly, the eternal Ruin of Mankind; but the Temptation was the Fruit of the Garden, which no question was alluring unto the Senses, when the Exercise of Grace was suspended. Now, Sir, as I humbly conceive, Inoculation is the thing proposed, the brave alluring yellow Apple, which is so successful in the Event, even Life, as several of your Order have set forth. But Satan may [Page] have another end in it, to wit, the making the Means of Grace unsuccessful, in bringing the first Venders and Abettors, and Promoters of Inoculation, which every Body knows were certain Ministers of this Town) into Contempt; tho' now some of our Country Ministers have imbib'd this Doctrine too; one of them, last Sabbath Day was Two Weeks, in his Prayer used this Phrase▪ Some of our People are gone out to meet the Rod, and to kiss it. Out! Whether are they gone out! Out sure enough! Not out of God's Blessing into a warm Sun; No, no: They are gone out of God's way of waiting upon him all the Days of their appointed Time, until their Change shall come. But as for Five of them (within this Three Weeks) they are gone out indeed; out of the World! And now the Devil and-all the Promoters and Admirers of of Inoculation cannot deceive us; for we have followed them to their Graves, and they will not return, until the Heavens be no more. 2dly, You say, to meet the Rod. Sir, where did you meet with this indigested Phrase for your People that have put themselves into a way to have the Small Pox, and to prescribe both the Disease and the Time when. I wish you would make your Bible more the Rule of Prayer as well as of Practice. 3dly, You say, and to kiss it. Ay, so you might, had not God lately made you to know, that it is dangerous medling with Ege Tools, and show'd you that you are Fools that will be medling. May you sport it with the Holy one of Israel? May you not see your selves pourtrayed in Hos. 5. 5. The Pride of Israel doth testify unto his face; therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their Iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them. Hath not God spit in your Faces? and will you not be ashamed? Mal 2. 3. Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread Dung upon your Faces, even the Dung of your [...], and one shall take you away with it. [Page] Verse 7. For the Priests Lips should keep Knowledge, and they should seek the Law at his Mouth; for he is the Messenger of the Lord of Hosts. Verse 8. But ye are departed out of the way: ye have caused many to stumble at the Law: ye have corrupted the Covenant of Levi, faith the Lord of Hosts. Verse 9. Therefore have I made you contemptible and base before all the People, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the Law.

But to return and show how Satan may be carrying on his old Work by this new way. The Town daily resents your Abuses, and many blacken your Character, which you ought to preserve as sacred; and they say, If you are so defective in your Morals, how shall we believe you, when you speak of divine Things? And so you have accrued unto your selves an odious Character in the Minds and Mouths of too many, ay very many, of your Hearers and Contributers. They are prejudiced against your Persons, & consequently against whatever you teach. I have many times to my Grief heard People say, that if you understand your own Trade no better than you do Morals, we are in a bad Condition. And they allude unto Gal. 3. 4. Have ye suffered so many things in vain, (to withdraw from the Principles and Practice of the Church of England, and now to bring in the Practice of the Heathen?) And Verse 3. Are ye so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are ye made perfect in the Flesh? They say, as in Verse 1. O foolish Ministers, who hath bewitched you, that you should not obey the Truth? And with Jer. 5. 26. For among my People are found wicked Men: They lay in wait, as he that setteth Snares to catch Men, (that is, by Inoculation, with which they infect their Neighbours.) They set a Trap; they catch men. I shall conclude with Job. 5. 20. They were confounded because they had hoped; they came together and were [...].

[Page] And now, Sir, with a real desire that Satan may not take any Advantage against you, to hinder the Success of your Ministry, by raising Prejudices against your Person, and also against your Doctrine. (which I have reason to fear, since you have imbib'd this new Doctrine, as some call it,) I rest with real Respects,

Your unworthy Servant, JOHN WILLIAMS.

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OUR Town seems to be chased in their Minds, against some of the Ministers of the Gospel, for their intermedling with things which do not belong to their Function; and do say, that there is not that Care taken to keep them in their proper Sphere, that they may be useful to the People.

And now I must go back, and call over old things. You may remember when this Governour came first, he proposed to make Money, 100000 l. upon Loan, and 50000 l. was made before, which was let out to Men upon Mortgages at 5 per Cent. so that it must pay 6300 l. Use. The next Year the Governour mov'd to put a stop to the Run of it, and said. That there should be no more made, for it would not be good Times till Silver was the Medium of Trade. Many ignorant Men, that could not see with the same Eyes as some Gentlemen did, thought we were in a bad Condition; for they said, Here is not enough Money in the Country of that Species to pay Use and Principal too: (It may be they did not understand Arithmetick.) This put a stop to Trade; and many People were drove to Hardships, and fear'd it would be worse, even that their Estates which were mortgaged would be forfeited; for nothing else would redeem [Page] them but Silver at 6 s an Ounce, Seventeen Peny Half-peny Weight; which was the Occasion of great murmering among the People. About this time there came into the Pulpit a great Orator, and his Text was, Two Brethren mending their Nets. He went on, and told the People of the Hardships their Forefathers underwent for the Gospel; they went to the Clam-banks for a Livelyhood And, says he, ‘Are your Nets broke; I hope they will mend, I am told things begin to mend already.’ Now I take Notice, that had we went to the Clam-Banks for Food, there was no Mony to pay our Taxes, nor to buy a Bottom of Twine to mend our Nets withal. But by and by he says, ‘I charge you that you do not mutiny; and God have bid me charge you, that you do not mutiny.’

Now this Digression caused several Thoughts to arise; as first, That he lacked to see the Time when Silver should be forced in upon upon us by Necessity; and perhaps he might desire to hear the Silver to gingle in the Box. Again, 2dly, The Transport that he was in, in charging the People not to mutiny; to see how he had left his Text: Or whether he spake from an Impulse on his Mind, for we had heard nothing of Mutiny, nor like it before. And this sort of Discourse put me in mind of a young Scholar I knew in England, who told my Brother, that he had studied an excellent Discourse but could not tell what Text to put to it. Says my Brother to him, Pray leave it with us in the Country; for we have more Texts here than excellent Discourses. Now, whether this was a Discourse put to a Text, or a Text applyed to this Discourse, I will not pretend to determine: But I have observed more such Doings and laid them up in my Budget.

The next thing I observed was, Supplications by the Ministers, That God would teach this People to [Page] lead quiet and peaceable Lives. This put me farther into a Consternatian; and I could not tell what they meant by repeating it twice a Day so long together, as tho' it was an Article in our Creed that must not be omitted. I considered whether they were not set to work by some Persons, and whether this was not an Implicit Charge upon us, that we were not a peaceable and quiet People. Now the Minister's could not leave off this Form of Words in their Prayer, until the honourable Assembly had declared us a loyal and peaceable People, by rejecting the Bill against Riots and that against the Liberty of the Press, and afterwards in their Answer to the Governour's Speech. It apear'd plainly to me, that there was no need at all for the Law against Riots, except it was to oblige Mr. D—y the High Sheriff, and Mr. Y—s the Governour's Kinsman to keep the Peace; for we know they both broke the Peace soon after that Bill was propos'd to the Assembly, and we know also that they were for having the Bill pass: Nor was there any need of the Law against Libels, unless it was to punish a certain Clergyman for writing News from Robinson Cruso's Island: But I will tell you what came into my mina, These Men want to make their Neighbour's live quiet and peaceable Lives, that they may live quarrelsome and turbulent Lives; just as some Folks would make other Men honest, that they themselves may be Knaves.

Again, It is observ'd, that the Ministers are generally of a contrary Party to the Bulk of the People, with respect to the publick Affairs here in this Town; and so there is an ill Understanding between the Ministers and the People, as some have complained. I do not think all do oppose them because they would be of a Party against them; yet it may be some may do it for as little Reason as the Countess of Pembrook gave to the Dutchess of Portsmouth, when she came [Page] to her and said, Madam, What is the reason that you indeavour to hinder your Son from marrying my Sister? The Answer was, The only Reason is, Madam, because she is your Sister,

Again, the Ministers complain, that this People in the midst of Judgment are not bettered thereby, but wax worse and worse: Here is great Divisions among us. Now we say, that several Ministers have set up the Doctrine of Inoculation in Publick, and think we do not do well that we do not believe it and practice it, but on the contrary, set light by their Advice: And indeed, we have reason so to do; for they prove it not from the Word of God to be our Duty; and till they do, let them resent it how they will, we cannot comply with them; and so we differ in Judgment, as they did in Ahab's Time. And now the Dispute is no longer, whether there is Animosities and Contentions between the Ministers and the People but it lies here, to know where the Fault is. The Ministers say, it is because they are opposed and set light by. The People say, they oppose and set light by them, because they teach that which is not good but evil unto them. And we read in Prov. 19-27. Cease my son to hear the Instruction that causeth to err from the Words of Knowledge, And the Case seems pour rayed in I Kings 18. 17, 18. And it came to pass when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou be that troubleth Israel: And he answered, I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy Father's House, in that ye have forsaken the Commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed [...]. Now we do believe, that you are the People that broached and carryed on by perswasion, even that which is the breaking of the Commandments of the Lord, and have taught us the Tradition of Men to our own hurt, even inoculation. Now these things (together with many more which are in the People's Minds, and in my [Page] Budget also,) have disturb'd the People to that Degree that it makes them inquire after your Commission: And they find in Matth. 18. 18. your Commission is, Teach all Nations. Mark. 16. 15. Go ye into all the World, and preach the Gospel. And we can't find, by comparing it with our Annotations, any allowance for Ministers to make Parliament Men and the like. Your work is divine, your Master is the God of Peace, your Lord the Son of Righteousness and Peace, and the Spirit of Peace to lead in the way of Peace: And the Promise in Psalms 84. 11. is to such as walk uprightly. And in 2 Cor. 5. 19, 20. we find, that the Words of RECONCILIATION are committed unto you, and you are to pray us to be reconciled unto God. Now if Ministers will be Party- [...], and undertake to lead the Van in other things, which are not in their Commission, they may expect no Blessing on their Endeavours, nor indeed but little Success; for 'tis in God's way that he hath propos'd his Blessing. Teach them to observe all things which I command you; and to, I am with you to the end of the World. Amen. Math. 28. 19. And the Psalmist annexes a Blessing unto them that walk according to this Rule; Mercy and Peace be upon them. Now, had not the Ministers went out of their Sphere, both in England and here too, People would not have opened their Mouths against them for being the Starters and Promoters of Division. We have not forgotten the Confusion that arose in Sacheverill's Day, when he went out of his Sphere, tho' he was as learned a Man as any of you, as I have heard; yet the Land will not clear him from being a designing Man: But be his design what it would, he was the Fomenter of much Division, as well as you. Now the People are afraid, the Ministers do affect a Rule over them in Temporals, as the Pope of Rome does temporally as well as spiritually, rule and determine [Page] things. Jer. 5. 31. The Prophets prophesie folly, and the Priests bear Rule by their means; and what will ye do in the end thereof. And some say we are Priest-ridden; others say that they will not be Priest-ridden; others say we are not Spaniards to bear this Priest-riding; others say they are Englishmen, and are not us'd to be Priest-ridden. And we will not mind what they say, but when they are in the Discharge of their Master's Commission; (and I wish the People would do that, seeing there is such Heart-burnings,) And that was it we call'd them to, and for that we will pay them; and for those superfluous things which their Master nor we never set them about, we will not thank them for: For suppose a Prince should send an Ambassador to a foreign Court, and give him his Instructions what he shall do, and what he shall negociate; if he should thro' a great Opinion of his own Parts, [...] from a Willingness to please the Court, negociate upon or abort any thing that was not in his Credentials, shall not his Master blame him for his Conduct. Now Gentlemen, if you take a View of your Actions, you will be of the same Opinion with us, That you have breached almost all the Things that have stirred up Strife; and being broached, have blown them, tip unto that Heigth that they now are in. I am informed, that there was a certain Gentleman in our Town, tied his Horse at the Door of one of my Neighbours, and went into his House, and tarryed some time: In the mean time some Body put a good quantity of Tar on the Saddle; and the Gentleman came forth and rode home without perceiving the Tar, and so spoil'd his Breeches. Now by good Consequence it is infer'd, that it was a mistake, and that the Man thought it was Dr. B—u's Horse. Now the spoiling of the Gentleman's Breeches is laid unto some of our Ministers Charge: Not that it's supposed any of them did lay the Tar upon the Saddle; (for I [Page] would put the Saddle upon the right Horse,) but in a remote Sense they were; as thus, They found out the Practice of Inoculation in History; (tho' it would have been well for this poor Town, if at that time they had been studying Divinity.) 2dly, They put the Doctor upon it, and incourag'd him in it, and perswaded People to come into the Practice. 3dly, By this means the Man was incensed against the Doctor, and (as he thought) acted a Piece of Revenge upon him, which was to soil the Saddle and spoil his Breeches. Now it is thought, that the Ministers that have so highly promoted Inoculation, should make a gathering for this Gentleman; if not four-fold, yet at least enough to satisfy him for the Loss of his Breeches.

Object. But this was a riotous Action, and you say we are a quiet and peaceable People.

Reply. So we are a quiet and peaceable People, genarally speaking, notwithstanding this Instance and one or two more to the contrary. Yea, our Ministers did say in their Address to the King, (if I am not mistaken,) that we were a loyal and peaceable People, even to a Man. And now I would ask the Ministers the following Questions.

Quest. 1. Whether we may not distinguish between complaining under Oppression, and being a mutinous People?

Quest, 2. Whether this People have not learned to live quiet and peaceable Lives; and whether your keeping up this Prayer, That God would teach us to live quiet and peaceable Lives, be not an implicit bearing false Witness against thy Neighbour?

Quest. 3. Whether by your Credentials you ought not every Sabbath Day to have made Supplications for our Brethren at the Eastward, who are in jeopardy of their Lives in the High Places?

Quest. 4. Whether the Business that our Brethren [Page] are gone upon is not of Importance, since they are to apprehend those that are Enemies to the King, and to the King of Kings.

Quest. 5. Whether by your Silence you do not give People reason to think, that you are much in Alliance with those that are for a Peacable War?

Quest. 6. Whether the secret Misteries of State be in your Credentials?

Quest. 7. Whether your Credentials have not Matter enough for all your Strength and Parts, without running into other Men's Bounds? Psal. 139.6. Such Knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.

Quest. 8. Whether your Prayer so long kept up, was not the Motive of the Governour's complaining to the best of Kings, against as good Subjects as ever a King rul'd?

A certain Gentleman of the learned Seminary of Cambridge, says, He wonders that John Williams's Book do sell so well; for all the Arguments he brings against Inoculation might be turned against Tobacco.

Reply. I suppose you may spare time enough from the Pulpit to turn them against it; for I know of no Call you have to preach every Week; and the smoaking of Tobacco being a tender Article with me, I should have looked upon my self obliged to have return'd an Answer to the Reverend Mr. G—e.

He further goes on to say, He would have our Mob come up to Cambridge, and pull down the College, and turn the Students down into Father Williams's Cellar, to learn Logick, Physick, and Divinity.

Reply. Has the Man forgot that he was born in [...] where it was never known that there was [...] two Mobs, and one of them was in [...] to pull down a wicked Bawdy House; and [Page] the other only mob'd for Bread, when they could get none to eat, while Capt. B—r had a great quantity in Store and would not sell it, but intended to send it out of the Country. But Sir, Why would you have the Colledge pull'd down? I am not of your Mind: Let it stand, and more and more flourish; but I am grieved that any that are educated there, should be so dull Schollars, as not to learn Meum and Tuum.

Again, you propose, That all the Schollars that are at Cambridge should come down to learn the Liberal Arts of me, in my Cellar.

Reply. I suppose there is room enough in my Cellar to hold you all; for I understand there is none there now but your self, and you will be my only Pupil. And as for my teaching you Divinity, its like you have enough of that already, unless you could have had a Call to the New North Meeting House. And as for Physick, my teaching you will signify nothing; for unless I could install you with the Title of Doctor of Physick, you must expect to follow my Steps, and give Advice gratis, which I suppose you will not admire. And then with respect to Logick, a small quantity of that will do, provided you always remember to supply the want of it with good Store of Sophistry. However, I will give my Pupil the following Maxims that I have received in Logick, and let him take them or leave them, as they will best befit the Imployment he goes upon.

1. For a Man to put that into the Major Proposition, which is the Subject in Discourse, is begging the Question, and it will render the Argument sophistical.

2. To put that which is so drawn from the Major, into the Minor, is, by those that understand Logick, accounted a Lye in the Sight of God.

3. To draw a Conclusion from the Minor that is thus drawn, is with a design to deceive.

Again, To put that which is not expressed or implyed [Page] in the Major into the Minor, is a Lye before God: And to put more into the Conclusion than is in the Minor, is with a design to deceive.

Because some Ministers frequently (in their Pulpits) turn aside from the Duty of their Calling, I shall give the Reader some Paragraphs of a long and noble Letter of Advice, wrote by the Pastors and Professors in the Church and University of Geneva, to the National Synod of the Reformed Churches of France, assembled at [...], 1614.

Note, This I have taken from a Book I have now by me, wherein there is much more to the same purpose.

Honoured Brethren,

THERE were some other Heads upon which we could and would have enlarged, and communicated to you our Thoughts; but we shall at present forbear, being overborn with Grief and Horror, caused by the fall of that eminent* Apostate, who having for many Years together abused those excellent Gifts of God, and that Place of Honour he held among you, and was particularly supported by you, doth now serve as a sorrowful Spectacle of the direful Vengeance of God Almighty. We have heard and read what hath been spoken and written of him, and we cannot guess at any other Ground of his depravation, than his pragmatical intermeddling with mundane Affairs; from which we take this Freedom to intreat you for God's sake, strictly to inspect into Vocations and Employments, that they be not mixed nor confounded, to the detriment of the one or the other. The Ministerial Function is expresly limited by the Word of God, as to its Laws, Ends. Means [Page] and Actings, being altogether different from, yes, and totally contrary to the secular Government. And we conceive there is no such Difficulty in the Matter, but that Ministers may be kept within the inviolable Bounds of their most holy Calling, and yet be useful to the Publick, without those little Arts of Subtleties and Surprisals, which abut at no other Mark than temporal and carnal Profit. Besides that, its a very rare, thing to find a Man capable both of the one and the other Calling: There is this grand Mischief in it, that Flesh and Blood seeing in the holy Ministry nothing but what is mean and humble, despicable and painful, difficult and dangerous, and contrariwise, meeting in the management of secular Affairs, with Food & fuel enough for Pride, Ambition and Covetousness, (the Grounds of all Envys and Jealousies,) and with Means and Helps to carry on Designs of Self-Advancement and Domination, as Tricks, Crafts, Dissimulation, it will be almost impossible to hinder the spreading of this Contagion, which creeps insensibly into the greatest Wits, and seizeth upon them at unawares, and not as an affected and approved Vice. But for God's sake, most dear Brethren, we beseech you to consider, whether it were not better that your temporal Affairs should suffer some Inconveniencies, than for your spiritual ones to be contaminated. If the necessity be absolute, peremptory and indispensable, then let them go about such secular, political Affairs with Regret and Grief, troubled at their enforced Distraction from their Heavenly Calling, lamenting as the Spouse in the Caticles, that they have made me keeper of the Vineyards, but my own Vineyard have I not kept. No Man going to War, intangles himself with the World, that so he may the better please his Captain that hath insisted him. That [Page] Commination is very dreadful, the Priest shall be the People; and that Lamentation exceeding dolful, All this evil and mischief is from the Prophet and the Stones of the Sanctuary are lying at the four Corners of the Streets. Let us, most dear and honoured Brethren, give up and resign our selves to the conduct of true Wisdom, speaking to us from the Word of God, which is, to forsake our own.

By the Synod of Vitre, 1617, all Ministers are forbid to vent in their Pulpits, their private Sentiments of State Affairs, it being contrary to the Resolutions taken up in our General Assemblies. And Consistories, Colloquies, and Provincial Synods, are injoined to have a watchful Eye over such Pastors as so do, and to inflict upon them all the Censures of the Church; yea, and to suspend them from the Ministry: And the same Punishment shall also be laid on them, who in their publick Sermons clash only against another upon these Matters.

The National Synod of Alez, 1620, did straitly forbid all Ministers to treat of State-Matters in their Sermons and publick Discourses, on pain of being suspended the holy Ministry; because the only Subject of their Sermons and publick Preaching, should be the holy Word of God; and the venting of State Matters by them, exposeth the Gospel of our Lord Jesus unto Contempt. And the Provinces shall take special Care that an Account hereof be given by their Deputies; as also what may be foisted if of this Nature into their Writings and printed Works.

BA

*

Mr. Jeremy Ferrier, Pastor and Professor at N [...]smes, who revolting from the Truth, was excommunicated July 14th, 1 [...].

↵

SOme have objected unto me, What if the Minister have provoked God to send down his Judgment upon us, what have you to do to write against the Ministers?

[Page] Reply. Ministers are Men, and but Men. 2dly. They are Brethren as well as their Hearers, are they not? And how read ye, Lev. 19. 17. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thy Heart, but in any wise reprove thy Brother, and not suffer Sin upon him.

Object. But they are good Men.

Reply. If they keep in their proper Sphere, where God hath set them, and not medle with other Things, it would be well for this People. The Apostle said, I determine to know nothing among you, but Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 2dly, Good Men have cried. How read you, 1 Chron. 21. 1. Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked Dated to number the People. Now Inoculation is abominable unto us, as the King's Word was abominable unto Joab; and I have proved already that Inoculation is displeasing unto God; and therefore he hath smote this People. Inoculation as it hath been carryed about this Town by the Doctor, and by his Dictators and Abettors, hath not only a natural Tendency to infect People, not a few, when the inoculated Persons go about the Town with their Incisions running Six or Seven Days before they are sick, and as many Weeks after they are well; but its a during Temptation unto the righteous and jealous God: And for all they have seen the Angel of the Lord stand with his drawn Sword in his Hand, they do not say, We have sinned and done wickedly in thy Sight. Neither do they say, Do away our Iniquity, for we have done very foolishly. And no [...] we may not expect a Nathan to come with a Message from God, to go and tell these Ministers, They are the Men that have introduced this Evil. Isai. 8. 6, 7. Forasmuch as this People refuseth the Waters of Shiloah [...] softly, and rejoyce in Re [...]in and [...]. Now therefore, behold the Lord bringeth upon them the waters of the river, strong and many. Now while the Ministers rejoyce in the Knowlege they have from [Page] [...] Constantinople, and the Levant, we are mout [...] ing to see our Desolution, and that thro' their means; tho' they may be of the same mind as Paul was, who thought he did God good Service in persecuting the Church; but I believe they are as much mistaken as he was. I pray God they may see their Mistake, as he did, and then they will be brought to cry out, What have we done? And they will run into the Congregation, and make a suitable Atonement, and stand between the living and the dead: Then may we hope that God will they the Plague. Numb. 16. 4 [...], &c.

But, now Gentlemen, why do I sit here, burning of Candle, while my Neighbours are in bed and asleep, knowing that Sleep is sweet to the labouring Man. I do therefore now declare unto you all who have imbib'd the Doctrine of Inoculation, Choose you one from among you with whom you can entrust this Matter; and let it come to a fair Debate, that we may know at last who is for God and who is for [...]. And as I suppose you are weary of the first Argument. I shall advance another, which I propose for the Preliminary of the Debate. And Moderators being agreed on on both Sides, I will, God willing, [...] you, on whom I depend for Assistance. The Preliminary Argument is, If Inoculation of the Small Pox be not of God, then it is of the Devil. But, It is not of God. Therefore, It is of the Devil.

FINIS.

Information about this book

Title statement

An answer to a late pamphlet, intitled, A letter to a friend in the country, attempting a solution of the scruples and objections of a consciencious or religious nature, commonly made against the new way of receiving the small pox. By a minister of Boston. Together with a short history of the late divisions among us in affairs of state, and some account of the first cause of them. / By John Williams. ; [Four lines from Hosea]

Williams, John, 1664-1729.

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI :

Date

2008-09.

ID [DLPS]

N02027

ID [TCP]

N02027

ID [STC]

Evans 2407

ID [NOTIS]

APW9161

ID [IMAGE-SET]

2407

ID [EVANS-CITATION]

99015448

Availability

This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal. The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

Series

Early American Imprints, 1639-1800 ; no. 2407.

Notes

(Evans-TCP ; no. N02027)

Transcribed from: (Readex Archive of Americana ; Early American Imprints, series I ; image set 2407)

Images scanned from Readex microprint and microform: (Early American imprints. First series ; no. 2407)

Source

— An answer to a late pamphlet, intitled, A letter to a friend in the country, attempting a solution of the scruples and objections of a consciencious or religious nature, commonly made against the new way of receiving the small pox. By a minister of Boston. Together with a short history of the late divisions among us in affairs of state, and some account of the first cause of them. / By John Williams. ; [Four lines from Hosea], Williams, John, 1664-1729..

Extent

[4], 20 p. ; 16 cm. (12mo)

Printed and sold by J. Franklin, at his printing-house in Queen-Street, over against Mr. Sheaf's School.,. Boston: :: 1722.. ("A letter to a friend in the country" was written by William Cooper.)

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