“But what I contend for, is, that we must not expect the best health laws, most rigorously executed, will ever be successful in g[uar]ding cities against epidemic pestilence. In our reliance on such [act]ions, we expose ourselves to perpetual disappointment; we expose the lives of citizens; we overlook the true causes of the evil, and neglect the only means of preventing or mitigating its effects.”
“I am with you in your opposition to Compulsory Vaccination. My logical faculty was offended at it long ago. At best it was simply boring one hole to stop another, and now it seems not even to do that, if men die of small-pox after vaccination.” — Frederick Douglass, 1882
In a letter I have received from Mr. Evans, of Dowlais, he says: “I wrote to Mr. George Muller, Bristol, asking him to tell me what he, with his vast experience, thought was my duty. I had lost a child through vaccination, and believed I nearly lost another. My conscience told me vaccination was wrong. Should I obey the law or my conscience? He replied it is my duty to walk with God, according to the light of conscience.”