Samuel Bourn (1714–1796) was an English
Dissenter
A dissenter (from the Latin ''dissentire'', "to disagree") is one who dissents (disagrees) in matters of opinion, belief, etc.
Usage in Christianity
Dissent from the Anglican church
In the social and religious history of England and Wales, and ...
minister.
Bourn was the third Samuel Bourn and a second son of
Samuel Bourn the Younger
Samuel Bourn the Younger (1689 –22 March 1754) was an English dissenting minister. He was an English presbyterian preaching on protestant values learned from the New Testament. Through his published sermons, he entered the theological de ...
, and his wife, Hannah Harrison, a widow, nee Hannah Taylor of
Kendal.
He was educated at
Stand grammar school,
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...
, and the
University of Glasgow
, image = UofG Coat of Arms.png
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of arms
Flag
, latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis
, motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita
, ...
. In 1742 he became dissenting minister of
Rivington, Lancashire
Rivington is a village and civil parish of the Borough of Chorley, Lancashire, England, occupying . It is about southeast of Chorley and about northwest of Bolton. Rivington is a rural area consisting primarily of agricultural grazing land, ...
, where he enjoyed the friendship of
Hugh Willoughby, 15th Baron Willoughby of Parham
Hugh, 15th Baron Willoughby of Parham (1713 – 17 January 1765) was an English nobleman and hereditary peer of the House of Lords. He was born in 1713, the eldest son of Charles Willoughby, 14th Baron Willoughby of Parham and Hester, daughter ...
. In 1754 Bourn moved to
Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...
to assist the presbyterian minister
John Taylor, who three years later left for
Warrington Academy
Warrington Academy, active as a teaching establishment from 1756 to 1782, was a prominent dissenting academy, that is, a school or college set up by those who dissented from the established Church of England. It was located in Warrington (then ...
.
Life
He was born at
Crook
Crook is another name for criminal.
Crook or Crooks may also refer to:
Places
* Crook, County Durham, England, a town
* Crook, Cumbria, England, village and civil parish
* Crook Hill, Derbyshire, England
* Crook, Colorado, United States, a ...
near Kendal, and educated at
Stand Grammar School and the
University of Glasgow
, image = UofG Coat of Arms.png
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of arms
Flag
, latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis
, motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita
, ...
where he studied under
Francis Hutcheson and
John Simson
John Simson (1667–1740) was a Scottish "New Licht" theologian, involved in a long investigation of alleged heresy. He was suspended from teaching as Professor of Divinity at the University of Glasgow for his later life.
Life
He was born ...
. In 1742 he settled in the ministry at Rivington, Lancashire, where he enjoyed the friendship of Hugh, 15th Lord Willoughby of Parham, who lived at Shaw Place, near Rivington, and was the representative of the last of the presbyterian noble families.
He was a fundamental scripturalist, a Bible protestant, who relied solely on the witness of the New Testament in matter of doctrine and ethics.
Bourn was not ordained till some years after his settlement. He then made a lengthy declaration (printed by
Joshua Toulmin
Joshua Toulmin ( – 23 July 1815) of Taunton, England was a noted theologian and a serial Dissenting minister of Presbyterian (1761–1764), Baptist (1765–1803), and then Unitarian (1804–1815) congregations. Toulmin's sympathy for b ...
) dealing with the duties of the ministry and allowing no doctrine or duty except those taught in the ''
New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...
''. Bourn lived partly at Leicester Mills, a wooded vale near Rivington, and partly at
Bolton
Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ...
. In 1752 the publication of his first sermon under the title ''The Rise, Progress, Corruption and Declension of the Christian Religion'', led to overtures from the presbyterian congregation at Norwich, and in 1754, apparently after the death of the senior minister,
Peter Finch, Bourn became the colleague of
John Taylor. The Norwich presbyterians had laid the first stone of a new meeting-house on 25 February 1754. When Bourn came to them they were worshipping in
St Mary the Less, Norwich, an ancient edifice, then held by trustees for the Walloon or Huguenot Protestants. On 12 May 1756 was opened the new building, the
Octagon Chapel, Norwich
The Octagon Chapel is a Unitarian Chapel located in Colegate in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The congregation is a member of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches.
History
The chapel is a grade II* listed building. Comple ...
. Not long after Bourn lost £1,000, which he had risked in his brother Daniel Bourn's cotton mill venture. Among those brought up under his ministry was Sir
James Edward Smith James Edward Smith may refer to:
* James Edward Smith (botanist), English botanist and founder of the Linnean Society
* James Edward Smith (murderer), American murderer
* James Edward Smith (politician), Canadian businessman and mayor of Toronto
* ...
, founder of the
Linnean Society
The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...
.
When in 1757 Taylor left Norwich to fill the divinity chair at Warrington Academy, Bourn obtained as colleagues first John Hoyle, and afterwards Robert Alderson, subsequently a lawyer, and father of
Edward Hall Alderson. When Bourn became incapable of work, Alderson had to discharge the whole duty, and was accordingly ordained on 13 September 1775.
Sermons and debates
During 1758, Bourn went from place to place searching for subscriptions to his two books of sermons. He entrusted his manuscripts to
Samuel Chandler
Samuel Chandler (1693 – 8 May 1766) was an English Nonconformist minister and pamphleteer. He has been called the "uncrowned patriarch of Dissent" in the latter part of George II's reign.
Early life
Samuel Chandler was born at Hungerford in ...
of
Old Jewry
Old Jewry is a one-way street in the City of London, the historic and financial centre of London. It is located within Coleman Street ward and links Poultry to Gresham Street.
The street now contains mainly offices for financial companies. The ...
. In 1758 Bourn travelled around to obtain subscriptions for two volumes of sermons. He placed the manuscript in the hands of Chandler. In one of these sermons Bourn had espoused the doctrine of the annihilation of the wicked, but in London in 1759 he heard Chandler characterise in a sermon the annihilation doctrine as "utterly inconsistent with the Christian scheme". Deeming this a personal attack, he tried to draw Chandler into a controversy by a published letter. Like his father, Bourn rested in the Christology of
Samuel Clarke
Samuel Clarke (11 October 1675 – 17 May 1729) was an English philosopher and Anglican cleric. He is considered the major British figure in philosophy between John Locke and George Berkeley.
Early life and studies
Clarke was born in Norwich, ...
. He was no optimist; he devoted a powerful discourse to the theme that no great improvement in the moral state of mankind is practicable by any means whatsoever (vol. i. 1760, No. 14).
Unfortunately for Bourn he had found in Chandler an implacable deist who denounced Bourn's firmly held belief in 'annihilation of the wicked' which was Chandler's interpretation of the Doctrine of Original Sin. Bourn took this attack personally. In 1759 he published a self-justificatory letter rejecting Chandler's abusive charge. John Mason joined the debate conducted by published sermons in a two volume work called ''Christian Morals''. He also engaged in debate with
John Mason (1706–1763) over the resurrection of the flesh. Bourn's opposite view is defended in an appendix to his sermons on the Parables.
Bourn published in 1764 a rejoinder encapsulated presbyterian doctrine appended to an earlier work known as ''Discourses on the Parables of our Saviour''. During his career Bourn moved to a more Arian christology in the philosophical mould of Samuel Clarke, rejecting the trinity doctrine and justification by faith, rationalising Christ's deification as the Son of Man. A traditionally heretical position, he was pessimistic about Man's essentially fallen nature. His sermons were often characterized as solemn, and morose, sombre. In 1760 he published ''A series of discourses on the principles and evidence of natural religion and the Christian revelation''.
Bourn was a favourite with the local Anglican clergy; but he retired to
Thorpe on a very modest income of £60.
Samuel Parr
Samuel Parr (26 January 1747 – 6 March 1825), was an English schoolmaster, writer, minister and Doctor of Law. He was known in his time for political writing, and (flatteringly) as "the Whig Johnson", though his reputation has lasted less well ...
, headmaster of
Norwich grammar school
Norwich School (formally King Edward VI Grammar School, Norwich) is a selective English independent day school in the close of Norwich Cathedral, Norwich. Among the oldest schools in the United Kingdom, it has a traceable history to 1096 as a ...
took him to Cambridge, and spoke of him as a masterly writer, a profound thinker, and an intimate friend. When his health failed, and he was retiring on a property of £60 a year,
Isaac Mann, Bishop of Cork, who was visiting Norwich offered him a sinecure preferment of £300 a year if he chose to conform; Bourn declined.
He was unable to finish his monumental History of the Hebrews. His last collection of sermons published in 1777 were comprising ''Fifty Sermons on Various Subjects, Critical, Philosophical and Moral''.
Bourn died at Norwich on 24 September 1796, and was buried on 27 September in the graveyard of the Octagon Chapel. Late in life he married, but left no family.
References
;Bibliography
* ''The Rise, Progress, Corruption, and Declension of the Christian Religion,'' sermon, Manchester, 12 May 1752).
* ''A Letter to the Rev. Samuel Chandler, D.D., concerning the Christian Doctrine of Future Punishment,'' 1759
[afterwards added to the second edition of his sermons, and reprinted by Richard Baron (DNB) in ''The Pillars of Priestcraft and Orthodoxy shaken,'' 1768, vol. iii.]
* ''Discourses on the Parables of our Saviour'' (1764)
* ''Fifty Sermons on Various Subjects, Critical, Philosophical and Moral'' (1777)
* Joshua Toulmin, Memoirs of the Rev Samuel Bourn (1808)
* W Field, Memoirs of the life, writings and opinions the Rev Samuel Parr, 2 vols(1828)
* John Taylor and Edward Taylor, History of the Octagon Chapel, Norwich (1848)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bourn, Samuel
1714 births
1796 deaths
English Dissenters
People educated at Stand Grammar School
Alumni of the University of Glasgow