BUT in truth, there is no Cruelty, but on the contrary real Compassion in these Regulations, with the Limitations I have made: and I am fully persuaded that whoever with Judgment considers the nature of this Disease, will easily see that the Rules here laid down are not only the best, but indeed the only ones that can effectually answer the purpose. And therefore I should not doubt but that, if this Calamity (which God avert!) should be brought into our Country, even the Voice of the People would cry out for Help in this way: notwithstanding wrong Notions of their =Liberties= may sometimes over-possess their Minds, and make them, even under the best of Governments, impatient of any =Restraints=. PART I. Of the PLAGUE in general. CHAP. I. _Of the Origine and Nature of the Plague._ MY Design in this Discourse being to propose what Measures I think most proper to defend the Nation against the _Plague_, and for this End to consider the Nature of _Pestilential Contagion_ as far as is necessary to set forth the Reasonableness of the Precepts I shall lay down; before I proceed to any particular Directions, I shall enquire a little into the Causes, whence the _Plague_ arises, and by what Means the Infection of it is spread. IN the most ancient Times _Plagues_, like many other Diseases, were looked upon as _divine Judgments_ sent to punish the Wickedness of Mankind: and therefore the only Defence sought after was by Sacrifices and Lustrations to appease the Anger of incensed Heaven.[15] HOW much soever may be said to justify Reflexions of this Kind, since we are assured from sacred History, that divine Vengeance has been sometimes executed by _Plagues_; yet it is certain, that such Speculations pushed too far, were then attended with ill Consequences, by obstructing Inquiries into natural Causes, and encouraging a supine Submission to those Evils: against which the infinitely good and wise Author of Nature has in most Cases provided proper Remedies. UPON this Account, in After-Ages, when the Profession of Physick came to be founded upon the Knowledge of Nature, _Hippocrates_ strenuously opposed this Opinion, that _some particular Sicknesses were Divine, or sent immediately from the Gods_; and affirmed, that _no Diseases came more from the Gods than others, all coming from them, and yet all owning their proper natural Causes: that the Sun, Cold, and Winds were_ divine; _the Changes of which, and their Influences on human Bodies, were diligently to be considered by a Physician_.[16] WHICH general Position this great Author of Physick intended to be understood with respect to _Plagues_ as well as other Distempers: How far he had reason herein, will in some measure appear, when we come to search into the Causes of this Disease.