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Submitted: Sep 14 2012 06:24 AM
Last Updated: Nov 04 2012 03:44 AM
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Author: John Wesley
theWord Version: 3.x - 4.x
Tab Name: Extract of Mr Dutens Inquiry Into the Origin of the Discoveries Attributed to the Moderns by John Wesley
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Author:
John Wesley

theWord Version:
3.x - 4.x

Tab Name:
Extract of Mr Dutens Inquiry Into the Origin of the Discoveries Attributed to the Moderns by John Wesley

Suggest New Tag::
Creation, wesley, john wesley, origin, species, nature, discovery, origin

IN the comparison between the moderns and ancients, a distinction ought to be made between the arts and sciences, which require long experience and practice to bring them to perfection, and those which depend solely on talent and genius. Without doubt, the former in so long a series of ages, have been extended more and more, and brought to a very high degree of perfection by the moderns, who in this respect surpass the ancients, though the art of printing, and many other discoveries, have not a little contributed to it. We know the astronomers in our days understand much better the nature of the stars, and the whole planetary system, than Hipparchus, Ptolemy, or any other of the ancients.

But it may be doubted whether they’ had gone so far unaided by telescopes. The modems have certainly perfected the art of navigation; nay, and discovered new worlds: but yet without the assistance of’ the compass, America, In all probability had still remained unknown. Likewise by long observation and experiments often repeated, we have brought the arts of botany, anatomy, and chirurgery, to the degree of perfection we know behold them in. Many secrets of nature, not to be penetrated in one age, have been laid open in a succession of many. Morality itself hath been perfected by the Christian religion; philosophy hath assumed a new air; and the trifling, childish, and vain cavils of the schools, have at length been put to flight by the reiterated efforts of Ramus, Bacon, Newton, and many others.

I willingly therefore give up to the partisans of the moderns, every advantage I have here enumerated ; but there is no need on that account, to rob the ancients of the share they have had in promoting all these parts of knowledge, by the pains they took to beat out for us the tracks we have pursued. Much less should we assume, as modern discoveries, what the ancients really invented, or illustrated. It also deserves notice, that the most part of the admirable and useful inventions, in which our age glories, such as printing, gunpowder, the compass, telescopes, &c. were not the acquisitions of genius and philosophy. but mere effects of chance. To place in its true light the share the ancients have in whatever we pretend to know, and even in what has been called modern discoveries, is the principal aim of my present undertaking.

following are the table of contents

The Author's Preface
Chapter 1 - Of the Circulation of the Blood, and the Fallopian Tubes
Chapter 2 - Of the Chirurgery of the Ancients
Chapter 3 - Of Generation
Chapter 4 - Of the Sexual System of Plants
Chapter 5 - Of the Chemistry of Tile Ancients
Chapter 6 - Of Sensible Qualities
Chapter 7 - Of Animated Nature
Chapter 8 - Nature Active and Animated
Chapter 9 - Of Thunder and Earthquakes; Of the Virtue of Tile Magnet; Of the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea; And of the Source of Rivers
Chapter 10 - Of Ether. And the Weight and Elasticity of the Air
Chapter 11 - Newton's Theory of Colours, Indicated by Pythagoras and Plato
Chapter 12 - Of Burning Glasses
Chapter 13 - Of Universal Gravity, and Centripetal and Centrifugal Force
Chapter 14 - Of the Copernican System; The Motion of the Earth about the Sun; And the Antipodes
Chapter 15 - Of the Revolution of the Planets about Their Own Axis
Chapter 16 - The Milky Way; Solar Systems, or a Plurality of Worlds
Chapter 17 - Of Comets
Chapter 18 - Of the Refraction of Light, and Astronomical Refraction; And of Perspective
Chapter 19 - Of the Many Discoveries of the Ancients in Mathematics, &c
Chapter 20 - Of Archimedes; Of the Mechanics and Architecture of the Ancients; And of Microscopes. Of Sculpture, Painting, and the Origin of Music

About John Wesley
The Wesley family was made famous by the two brothers, John and Charles, who worked together in the rise of Methodism in the British Isles during the 18th century. They were among the ten children surviving infancy born to Samuel Wesley (1662 - 1735), Anglican rector of Epworth, Lincolnshire, and Susanna Annesley Wesley, daughter of Samuel Annesley, a dissenting minister.

John Wesley was born June 28, 1703, died Mar. 2, 1791, and was the principal founder of the Methodist movement. His mother was important in his emotional and educational development. John's education continued at Charterhouse School and at Oxford, where he studied at Christ Church and was elected (1726) fellow of Lincoln College. He was ordained in 1728.

After a brief absence (1727 - 29) to help his father at Epworth, John returned to Oxford to discover that his brother Charles had founded a Holy Club composed of young men interested in spiritual growth.

John quickly became a leading participant of this group, which was dubbed the Methodists. His Oxford days introduced him not only to the rich tradition of classical literature and philosophy but also to spiritual classics like Thomas a Kempis's Imitation of Christ, Jeremy Taylor's Holy Living and Dying, and William Law's Serious Call.

In 1735 both Wesleys accompanied James Oglethorpe to the new colony of Georgia, where John's attempts to apply his then high-church views aroused hostility. Discouraged, he returned (1737) to England; he was rescued from this discouragement by the influence of the Moravian preacher Peter Boehler. At a small religious meeting in Aldersgate Street, London, on May 24, 1738, John Wesley had an experience in which his "heart was strangely warmed." After this spiritual conversion, which centered on the realization of salvation by faith in Christ alone, he devoted his life to evangelism. Beginning in 1739 he established Methodist societies throughout the country. He traveled and preached constantly, especially in the London-Bristol-Newcastle triangle, with frequent forays into Wales, Ireland, and Scotland. He encountered much opposition and persecution, which later subsided.

Late in life Wesley married Mary Vazeille, a widow. He continued throughout his life a regimen of personal discipline and ordered living. He died at 88, still preaching, still traveling, and still a clergyman of the Church of England. In 1784, however, he had given the Methodist societies a legal constitution, and in the same year he ordained Thomas Coke for ministry in the United States; this action signaled an independent course for Methodism.