Christianity, History

Vaccination as Tempting God (1722) (from “A Sermon Against the Dangerous and Sinful Practice of Inoculation”)

“It is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God: this was our Saviour’s answer to the Devil, when he would have persuaded Him to the commission of a presumptuous action. There are angels, says the tempter, to take care of you, so that you cannot possibly come to any harm; then make the experiment, and cast thyself down. Now there is no great difference between this of the devil and the temptation which lies before us; both intimate the safety of the practice, and both pretend the blessing of God; our Lord’s reproof, then, will serve them both.”