OUR former Intimacy in our Travels and Study abroad is all Apology I shall make for addressing you with this Let­ter, which contains an Affair local, tem­porary, and relating only to private Per­sons. The Design of the last to you pub­lished in this Place, was, that Inoculation might be sus­pended from being carried into the Country Towns, be­fore any Method or Contrivance was endeavour'd, to make it more easy to the Patient and safe to the Neigh­bourhood, from the Hopes we had that the Severity of the Season in a natural and ordinary Way might check its further Progress, or the after Season might be more con­venient for the Practice, or till their cautious Procedure in England might be some Guide to [...]. It con­tain'd, you may remember, a few harsh sounding Words, not pronounced absolutely, but as pathetically flowing from the Solutions advanced to some unnatural Argu­ments used on the other Side. As Guilt is apt to fly into a Man's Face, so it was here; it put them in a Passion, which is commonly said to be inconsistent with Reason, makes them drop all Argument ( we will not en­ter into the Controversy says the Vindicator Page 11.) and fall on with Calumny, Srurrility, flat [...] and Billings­gate, (a certain Evidence of the Goodness of their Cause, or at least of their Ability to maintain it) and sacrifice the Characters of several good Men, who endeavouring [Page 2] the good of their Country did publickly advise two or three Ministers against being too impetuous, without Method or Contrivance, to push Headlong a novel and dubious Practice of Consequence in Physick; this, with a Clamour, they call rendring the Ministry vain and ri­diculous.

I. To obviate the Misrepresentation of some harsh sound­ing Words, in the Letter concerning Inoculation to A. S. &c. Because it is reckoned very unfair and unbecoming a Gentleman, to assign Names to Anonymous Books (where the Author has not the Vanity to think that his Name can be any Recommendation to the Book, or does not value himself on the Performance) no Man's Name was wrote at Length, excepting Mr. Colman's, (his Name be­ing prefixed to his little Book,) and that only in this Passage, Mr. Colman's Fever in the Flesh; that he might have the Honour of this new Species of Fever, which has hitherto been overlooked by the eminent ancient and modern Physicians. The Words Judicious Magistrates and Ministers are borrow'd from Dr. I. M.'s Reasons for Ino­culation, and not by way of Ridicule: For as Society is maintain'd by the Reverence of the Religion of the Coun­try, and the Respect due to the Authority of their Laws, to derogate from either is the Abhorrence of all good Men. The Experiment was called a Humour, (Fancy or Tryal) because we are not arrived to that Degree of cer­tainty therein, that may be requisite to denominate it an establish'd Practice.

In the Introduction, the Advice to change Subjects, that the older Man may write Inoculation Cases of Conscience, and the younger Man the Theory of a Phantom he does not understand, i [...] not meant of the Drs. M—rs, but of the Authors of some Observations, and Cases of Consci­ence. As Tacitus was very exact in describing the Cha­racters of his Personages, supposing many Actions of Con­sequence to proceed more from their Temperament, than from rational Deductions: So there the principal Instru­ment (as the Vindicator calls him) was transiently cha­racterized in his Natural Philosophy Capacity, as is hereafter more fully illustrated, without any Reflections on his Life or Ministry. Is it not a Sort of Impiety to [Page 3] assert that a Man dyes in the use of the Means, if he dye in the voluntary Use of a Practice which by infecting the Neighbourhood, certainly occasions the Death of ma­ny, and is not without Risque to himself? To compare the Difficulties they meet with in their Promoting of the spreading of Infection, to those our Saviour met with in the Propagation of the Gospel, is not this an Abuse of the Scripture? These Assertions whether Lay or Clergy may be contradicted, for in this Country we allow of no Infallibility from the youngest Clerk to the Pope himself. To throw the Odium of Party on some Gentlemen who abhor the vile Name of Faction, is de­servedly called the hight of Assurance.

The Vindicator of the Ministers calls a Letter pub­lished in Mr. Campbells News Paper, July 24. 1721, a saucy Libel. I fancy he is beside himself; for there is no Minister there so much as hinted at, excepting the Re­verend Dr. C. M. who is there used with Respect and good Manners, viz. ‘A certain learned Gentleman of this Place, who upon the first Appearance of the Small Pox here, out of a pious and charitable Design of do­ing Good, apply'd to the Practitioners of the Place, &c.’ Or perhaps, because that Letter advises the People to be cautious in the Use of an Experiment novel and dubi­ous, it is called a saucy Libel; Is it possible a rational Man should be so impatient of Contradiction.

II. The late Calumnies of some Inoculators, particularly of a little Book called, A Vindication of the Ministers, are modesty considered. A Devoto disparages Religion by his unseasonable and indiscreet Introduction of Scrip­ture, Church, Ministers, &c: By culling, transposing, small alterations of words, &c. the most honest and seri­ous Piece may be made appear Atheistical, Blasphemous, and Treasonable: This is the mean disingenuous Artifice used by some of late. The words which sound harsh are obvious to every Man, but Solid Argument and Mat­ter of Fact, do not come within the Compass of every Persons Capacity and Knowledge: This last part, tho' the main Point, they neglect, and turn the Controversy on Calumny, of which they are very prodigal, and are not to be answered in Specie, without breach of good Man­ners. [Page 4] Ministers ought to show Men their Errors with the greatest Temper and Humanity; but the reverse of this, to the great Grief of some of their own People, has too much appeared on this occasion. A Roman Catho­lick writer says, It is no mortal Sin to Calumniate safely to preserve ones Honour; another says, We may lawful­ly Slander any Person, by charging him with Crimes that are utterly false, if against his Testimony we cannot other­ways defend our selves. This is a Popish Practice and not to be encouraged.

The late Pamphlet called, A Vindication of the Mini­sters, is advisedly said to be wrote by sundry Hands; for it is not possible to Imagine that one Person of any Degree of good Memory and sound Judgment could so often contradict himself and Matter of Fact; sometimes with one hand throwing the most fulsome Flatteries on himself and Brethren, not animadverting to that noted saying, He that commends himself, never purchases our Ap­plause; and with the other Hand the foulest Dirt, hit or miss, acted by this Principle, Calumniare audacter, &c. To illustrate this. He says, ‘we cannot but admire, the Moderation and consummate Patience of our Pastors, a­midst these outragious & provoking Abuses and Scan­dals. — The Meekness of our Ministers, under these abuses, imitating their glorious Master, who remained as dumb under the Shearers. — We are of Opinion that Persons may differ in their Sentiments, about this Practice, without declaring themselves open Enemies to one another, and neglect Christian and civil Con­versaion,’ How well does this talley with their fol­lowing Scurrilities. ‘Our Practitioners and late Libel­lers. Virulent endeavours of wicked men. Impious and Satanick Custom. Daringly profane. Impudence brazen and flagitious. Hellish Servitude. Impious Buffoons. Profane Sons of Corah. Children of the old Serpent,’ and many other Billingsgate Terms of Art.

The Vindicator says, ‘Dr. Mather disdains to draw his generous Pen for his own Vindication, who changes not his Temper for all their invidious Calumnies’; for the Truth of this I refer to a little Pamphlet called Remarks, &c. in which he meekly says, ‘The Author [Page 5] (daringly presuming on a Family Name) of the Letter to A. S. &c. has not the least Spark of Grace in his Heart. No Fear of GOD before his Eyes. Impudent and malicious Lyes. The Church ought to deliver him over to Satan, for he deserves the highest Censure. Deserves to be Scourg'd out of the Country. The Go­vernment ought to banish him. He should be pillor'd and afterwards Ston'd by the People’, with several more low Expressions of an angry brutal Passion in the Manuscript, which the Printer was ashamed to publish; and all this because the Nature and Thread of the Au­thors Discourse obliged him, to represent Dr. C. M. as rash in his proceedings of Inoculation, and fallible in his Natural Philosophy. What could he have said more against one that should write vile things of our Charter and Government, of our Religion and Platform, most no [...] ­riously vicious and wicked, a Traitor and Blasphe [...]? Are there no Degrees in this Man's Censure? Are these his Philosophical Arguments and mild Christian Re­bukes? A Man's Life and Conversation fall within the ken of his Neighbour's Eye, these he might (and would) have faulted, if he had had any handle; but a Man's Grace, the Fear of God in his heart, are only open to the Omniscient.

In another Place the Vindicator of the Ministers says, Strangers or Abjects, which inhances their Folly, and makes their Impudence the more brazen and flagitious. Travelling removes National and Country Prejudices, and enlarges the narrow selfish Soul; but to use by way of Odium the word STRANGER, and couple it with ABJECT, shows this our Travellers vile, low, abject Spirit, and that his Travel is lost. Was he so used when in England? O Shame! Was his Father or Grandfather so used when they came to settle their abode in this Country? Can any good Man thus throw dirt on his Fathers Memo­ry? None but a Terrafilius. Our Governours and other King's Officers from home, are they to be branded with the Appellation STRANGER? O impudence, brazen and flagitious!

III. The Idea of a good voucher in Natural History, not consistent with the Constitution of our principal Instrument [Page 6] of Inoculation, [...] whose word all did at first depend. For this I might refer to a Folio called Magnalia, to be found with John Williams and his Brother Tobacconists, here and elsewhere. A good Voucher ought to be Sin­cere, candid, of solid Judgment, and not Credulous. Let us then suppose, for Argument's Sake, 1. A Man of a Vale­tudinary Friendship, sometimes the greatest Profession of kindness, and therefore to be suspected; at other Times on the least disgust, the highest Malice and rancour, and therefore to be avoided. 2. A Man void of candour, who promotes a Medical Experiment, without the knowledge of, or taking any notice of him from whom he had the Communication; who uses with his Pen in the most indiscreet unmannerly way, a Friend of mine, whose M.D. is as good and more regularly acqui­red than his own D.D., one not inferior to himself in Birth, Fortune, Education, and the good Opinion of his Neighbours; who calls a Man that has resided se­veral Years in this Country, and constantly paid Taxes and other Rates, a new Comer, a meer Stranger. 3. A Man of Whim, Credulity, and Vanity, who in his Letter to Dr. Woodward, Nov. 18, 1712, ( vide Phil. Transact. Vol. 29.) has a particular Fancy, that the wild Pidgeons, when they leave New-England at certain Seasons, repair to some undiscover'd Satellite, accompanying the Earth at a near Distance. Tho' unacquainted with the first Principles of the Mathematicks, sends Home a Solution of Two the most abstruse Proplems or Desiderata in Mathematicks, viz. the SQUARING OF THE CIR­CLE, which is only to be expressed by Approximati­on, or an infinite AEquation, whose Nature is known, but whose Value cannot be reduc'd to any determined Lines or Numbers; the other is the LONGITUDE at Sea, the Discovery of which for many Years has been endeavoured by the best Mathematicians, encouraged by large Proemiums; and is generally thought will continue a Secret, till some Comet or other Caelestial Body ap­pear within our System, and perform his Revolutions in a N. and S. Line, or some great Circle not much declining from a Meridian, as at present we find the Latitude, by the Suns Revolution in a Circle not much declining from [Page 7] the AEquinoctial, or E. & W. Line, or till an Automaton (Clock­work) can be contrived, which shall for some considerable Time move aequally or aequably, without being affected by the Weather or external Motion; or till we find some Contrivance, not withstanding the Motion of the Ship, to take the Altitudes of the fixed Stars, and the Eclipses of Jupiter's Moons. A Man guilty of such Absurdities, is no good Voucher for an Experiment of Consequence.

IV. The Ministers Pretensions and Qualifications for the Practice of Physick enquired into. Some of ours here, like the Roman Catholick Clergy of old, would have the People believe, that they are the only proper Judges in all Cases of Literature. The Author of Some Observa­tions, &c. says ‘And we at last find too by sad Expe­rience, that they understood as well the managing the Distemper (Small Pox) then (43 Years ago) as we do now.’ I could not possibly conceive the Natural Cause of this Thought or Assertion, till a little Piece called a Vindication, &c. was lately published, wherein he explains himself thus, ( p. 10.) 'Mr. Thomas Thatcher, a Ministers, Forty Three Years ago, wrote a Sheet of Di­rections (which was certainly useful in the then Infan­cy of our Colony) and perhaps since that Time no Mi­nister has wrote on that Subject, till this Book of Ob­servations did appear, which is to make Amends for Forty three Years lost Time in improving, and qualifies the Author to be such a one, as he says, the best Phy­sicians in the Land need not be ashamed to advise withal.

In some Circumstances a Layman (it's said) may per­form several of the Offices of a Clergyman, where learn­ed and suitably qualify'd Clerks are not to be found: and so some sarcastick Writers tell us, that in the Infan­cy of this and some other Colonies, their Teachers, be­sides civil Polity and Physick, also exercised some meaner and mechanick Callings. But now our Colony is of Age, and for several Years past our Ministers have not been allowed to act in civil Affairs, as Judges, Justices, Re­presentatives, &c. there being choice of Men sufficient­ly qualify'd to fill these Places: For the same Reason, [Page 8] the Ministers (I mean those who have the Oversight of a Flock) in this great Town, should cease pretending to Physick, there being Practitioners sufficient in Number and Qualifications to supply the Place. Further, we find in great Towns, where there is Variety and Multi­tude of Business, that the Practitioners may be the bet­ter qualified for their particular Professions; Physick it­self is divided into distinct Branches, as Physicians, Sur­geons, Apothecarys, Chymists, &c. each keeping within his Bounds. How then can we suppose, a Man of a Vocation, which requires all his Time conscientiously to discharge the same, should pretend to a Business of so great Extent? Hypocrates, the Prince of Physicians, in his Epistola ad Democritum, modestly says, Ego enim ad finem Medicinae non pervent Etamsi jam senex sim. Et ego sane mihi videor, majorem reprehensionem quam honorem artis me assequtum esse.

To be more or less Book learned, is not a sufficient Qualification for a Physician; there must be Institutio a Puero; the candid Sydenham says, Haec ars haud rectius perdiscenda est, quem ab ipsius artis excercitio et usu. A very eminent modern Physician says, That many Gen­tlemen of universal Reading, and old Women by long Nursing, know as much of Physick as to kill themselves and Neighbours when sick, by the preposterous indis­creet Use of some noted Medicines.

The Reformed Churches of France, in their 19th Ca­non of Discipline say, Mo Minister, together with the holy Ministry, shall be Practitioner in Law or Physick, un­less in Time of Trouble and Persecution, and when he cannot exercise his Calling in his Church, and cannot be maintained by it: And those who shall thus employ them­selves in Law or Physick, or any worldly distracting Bu­siness, shall be exhorted wholly to forbear it, and total­ly to devote themselves to the Duties of their Calling as Ministers, and to study the Scriptures, All Colloques and Synods are admonished to proceed according to the Canon of our Discipline, against the refractory, and such as be wilfully disobedient,

[Page 9]V. Some additional loose Remarks on the Practice of Inoculation in this Place. Our Vindicator stands his ground to the last drop of Assurance: What the ingeni­ous Mr. Butler says of his Knight, may well be apply'd here,

Their Methods and procedure are acknowledged rash by many of their own Inoculation Friends; this Man continues to affirm it a regular Procedure be setting the Matter in a false Light. Is it not Fact, that Dr. C. M. after dispersing his circular Letters, before the Practitioners could have time to meet, consult, and make a Return; privately sets B—n to work, without acquainting the Townsmen and Practitioners. About this Time the In­fection had got into several Houses, so that Watche [...] could not conveniently he obtained for them all; be the Justices and Select-Men did not neglect the Preserva­tion of the Town (as this Man would insinuate) and al­low Infection to spread at any Rate. v.g. The Dead for some considerable time thereafter were not allow'd to be carry'd out till late in the Night, when People were retired. Upon the Noise of Inoculation being attempt­ed, the Justices and Select-Men appointed a Meeting of all the Practitioners, who unanimously gave their Opinion against it till further Light, which was accordingly pub­lished by the Select-Men, and the Practice is forbidden; but by the Instigation of this Man and his Accompli­ces, they proceed in Contempt of the Magistrates, and in Contradiction to the Practitioners. Is this a regular Procedure?

If a Dr. C. M. in any other Country should meet with the Vindication, &c. finding him in express Words as­serting the uninterupted and remarkable Success of this Method; — the constant Success of this Experiment, &c. he would directly publish, that not one ever dy'd of Ino­culation these Forty One Years, always producing the most favourable Sort; — a Practice well vouched, &c. what [Page 10] fatal Errors may not Impartiality lead a credulous Man into? Such an Account as this may do with some of their Correspondents abroad, till contradicted by better Hands; but here it is ridiculous and silly, we all know that several have dy'd of the Practice, and that many have suffered much.

How trifling is it for us, who have had the Experi­ence of Two or Three Hundred Inoculated, to appeal to a Man who only conjectures it may be of Use, and has not had the Opportunities of adducing more that Two Instances, and these of Children, whose Age might con­tribute to their having them favourable either Way; I mean Dr. Harris's Dissertation on the Inoculation of the Small Pox; the Justness of the Abstract from it, I pass over, not having seen the Original. From it we learn no more concerning Inoculation, than, v. g. may be learnt from Dr. Lower's (the more eminent Man) Account of Transfusion, addressed to the Honourable Mr. Boyle, published by the Royal Society, and with more Earnestness recommended, and consequently equally or better vouched, after this Man's weak way of reasoning. Notwithstanding of this Dissertation, Timonius, Pylari­nus, and many more Accounts of the Affair that have not come to our Hands; we find them so cautious at home, that it was some Time thereafter before any Try­als were made, and these by Permission of the Govern­ment on the Bodies of Persons dead in Law. He advi­ses Exactness in Regimen, which is absolutely requisite, to know the Advantage of any new Experiment; we to our Shame boast and glory in our not using any. The Consequences he does not so much as hint at, which are Difficulties to be discussed. However, Dr. Harris abstracted has this good Effect, it proves a tem­porary Cordial to some of the Inoculated.

Since my last to you, the Small Pox has made little or no progress in the Country; Our News Papers tell us, that in some Towns it is entirely ceased, in others much abated. Who then but Madmen, would have advised Inoculation in the severest Season to those who are like forever to escape the Small Pox? In this Town se­veral Hundreds have escaped, and it is probable many [Page 11] more might have escaped (as was the Case Nineteen Years ago) if Inoculation had not rendred the Infection so universal and intense. Last Small Pox the Month of the greatest Mortality ( December, a severe Winter Month) did not exceed 80 Persons; at this Time the Month of the greatest Mortality ( October, a favourable Autumn Month) exceeded Four Hundred burials, which is more than all that dyed of the Small Pox Nineteen Years ago. For the three Months of September, October, and November last, in which Inoculation prevailed, the Town was a meer Hospital, and we bury'd Seven Hun­dred and Sixty Persons. The last Small Pox spread gradually in the extent of ten or a dozen Months, and vast Numbers escape; Inoculation of the Small Pox this Time set us all in a Flame, and in half the Time leaves few People exempt from its rage. With what Face can any Man call our Methods of Inoculation a regular pro­cedure?

I heartily wish Success to this and all other Means design'd to alleviate the Epidemick Distempers incident to Mankind; whether casually discovered, or ingeni­ously contrived by the Sons of AEsculapius: But rash­ness and headstrong irregular procedure I shall for ever exclaim against, especially that detestable Wickedness of spreading Infection.

That I may not incur the Censure of Scribling, I pro­mise to neglect and despise, all that may come from the other Side by way of bare Affirmation, Bombast, Calumny, Doggrel Dialogues, &c. but if Solid Reasoning, well vou­ched Matter of Fact, and such like appear against any thing asserted, or conjectured by the Practitioners in op­position to the rash procedure of the Inoculators; I doubt not but they will take it Kindly and Friendly.