1 Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,

Vaccination and the Obedience of the Truth

"I have a friend who knows the truth, and is inclined to obey it, but is altogether opposed to vaccination. He wants to know whether he cannot become a Christadelphian without submitting to have his children vaccinated. He thinks it a sin."—(H.C.B.)

Answer.—Becoming a Christadelphian means believing and obeying the gospel, and accepting all the obligations which the law of Christ imposes on his brethren. Without this, a man cannot be saved. But Christ has commanded nothing on the subject of vaccination.

If he had, undoubtedly, H. C. B.'s friend could not become his brother without submitting to his command. Our duty in the matter depends upon the bearing of those precepts by which he has commanded us to submit to

"every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake."—(1 Peter 2:13),

and to "obey magistrates" (Titus 3:1), where these do not require us to disobey him.

Out of this comes the conclusion that it is our duty to submit to vaccination because magistrates require it, but this conclusion would, of course, be deprived of its force, if it could be shown that vaccination was opposed to what God requires; but this cannot be shown. The arguments that show it are far-fetched and inconclusive.

The question being one of doubtful disputation, is one on which no one must judge or dictate to another.

Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind, and act accordingly, and leave the Lord to decide. To call it a sin on one side or other, is a mistake; for this is to contend that those who practise on the other side are sinners. Sin is the transgression of the law; and a matter on which no express law has been given must be left to the uncondemned judgment of each for himself.

If objectors who call vaccination "sin" would analyze their own minds, they would find that their antipathy has its source in sympathy for offspring, and not in special regard for divine law, which, in palpable matters, is often disregarded without compunction.

If H. E. B.'s friend means to be saved, he will be unwise to let vaccination stand in his way, one way or other. If he cannot see his way to the submission inculcated in Rom. 13:1, let him, at all events, in the fear of God, obey the gospel for the remission of sins, and commit himself with humility to God, lest "sin," in the case, be found, at last, on the side of his refusal, instead of on the part of those who "obey magistrates" in the matter.

The Christadelphian, Feb 1873

3 For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.

Pleasure deadens all moral perceptions and inclinations, and leads its votaries downward in the path that leads to death. No one is ever helped to the Kingdom of God by theatre going or novel reading. By these the present life, which is a shadow is stamped on the imagination as the reality; and the purpose of God, which is a reality, is made to appear a myth.

Seasons 2.1.

7 That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Believing is not an act of the will. I cannot will to believe what I have no evidence of. The power compelling faith is in the testimony. God created the human sensorium, He created the faith that came by Jesus Christ, and He created the testimony concerning it (for it is styled "the testimony of God"); by Scriptural and by human instrumentality, the divine faith and human sensorium are brought into juxtaposition by the divine testimony, and faith germinates and grows as a plant from seed sown.

Out of this germination, fully developed into ripeness of plant, comes justification, δικαιωσιζ εκ πιστεοζ, dikai̬sis ek piste̤os, justification from, or out of, faith, or believing the truth. Hence, truly, a man's believing may be styled "the gift of God;" for, speaking of sinners saved from their past sins, it is written

"they shall be all taught of God."

Bro Thomas - The Ambassador of the Coming Age April, 1869