Memoir of John Stearne, M. & J.U.D., S.F.T.C.D., founder and first President of the College of Physicians : including the original charter of that college, and other records concerning the profession of physic in Ireland never before published with a review of his writings / by T.W. Belcher.

  • Thomas Waugh Belcher
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Memoir of John Stearne, M. & J.U.D., S.F.T.C.D., founder and first President of the College of Physicians : including the original charter of that college, and other records concerning the profession of physic in Ireland never before published with a review of his writings / by T.W. Belcher. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    This was the first work published hy Dodwell,®' who, on reading the MS. after Stearne’s death, discovered something therein which he thought might be construed to his master’s disadvantage. Accordingly he prefixed to it his “ Prolegomena,” in which he premises that what Stearne urged on heathen recommendation were moral duties, and not Arcana Cceli— mysteries of Christianity—which are only known to us by revelation. He proceeds to argue that in other things which concern our practice reason is to be regarded, even where God has superadded a revelation; that in the examination of natural reasoning the authority of the great assertors and indicators of reason challenge our regard ; that consequently the philosophers demand our respect; and, having taken up a number of other points of natural theology, he urges that certain phrases in Holy Scripture must be understood in the sense in which they were received by the writers of that age with whom the Hellenists conversed. He shows that when Stearne recommended the sentiments of the Stoics he thereby meant those, not of the ancient Stoical sect, nor of a sect in the Christian Church, but the opinions of the later Stoics, e.y., Seneca, Epictetus, and Antoninus; and that the Christian Church never con¬ demned these, but rather approved them. The later Stoics did not deny Providence, nor maintain fatality, nor doubt the soul’s immortality or a future state. They had much regard to reason and its dictates, and chiefly employed themselves in teaching men to lead virtuous lives, and hence were esteemed among Christians. He apologizes for the severity of some of Stearne’s maxims, which he explains, and vindicates his doctrine of Firmness (obstinatio) from the charges of Pelagianism and Novatianism. This work of Stearne’s gives a deep insight into his character, and is valuable chiefly for this reason. His treatise “ De Electione & Reprobatione,” though more or less ^ Henry Dodwell (see his life by Eras. Brokesley, 1715, also Ware’s Writers, and Wood’s Athene, Oxon.) was educated in T.C.I)., of which he became a Fellow in 1662. Unwilling to take Holy Orders, he resigned his Fellowship in 1666, and retired to England. In 1688 he was elected Camden Professor of History at Oxford, but, being a non-juror, resigned shortly after the revolution. He died at Shottesbrooke, in 1714, having been through life held in high esteem for his learning and piety, and par¬ ticularly for his qualities as a Theologian and a Philosopher. He was a very voluminous v/riter, and when a Fellow of T.C.I). was celebrated as a preacher of “ Common¬ places” (Communes Loci) in the College Chapel. This practice, not very long disused, was then highly valued. Every resident M.A , whether clerk or layman, was required, in his turn, to deliver short sermons (ad modum Theologies Concionis) on Friday and Sunday Evenings. Nor was the lay practice confined to the college ; it was at one time common in Christ Church Cathedral, where Stearne’s distinguished grand-uncle first acquired fame as a licensed lay preacher. The Eev. Hr. Carson, F.T.C.D., tells me that he himself discharged this duty when a layman ; and that its disuse arose from its practical inconvenience in the present day. Common-places could not exceed half an hour in length.— See Caroline Statutes of T.C.D,, cap. xvi.
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