Clarke - The Life of Adam Clarke - Biography

447 Pages·1996·0.86 MB·English

by  J. W. Etheridge

T L A C
HE IFE OF DAM LARKE
by J.W.Etheridge
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THE LIFE of the
REV. ADAM CLARKE, LL.D.
By J. W. Etheridge
Published in 1858
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CONTENTS
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[Transcriber Note: The electronic version of the this book has been divided
into into 30 consecutive divisions — including the 29 total book chapters
and the final supplement. Therefore, the original table of contents has been
altered to show these 30 divisions.]
INTRODUCTORY
BOOK I
THE MORNING OF LIFE
DIV. 1 — CHAPTER 1 His Parentage and Childhood
DIV. 2 — CHAPTER 2 Regenerate
DIV. 3 — CHAPTER 3 First Essays in the Service of Christ
DIV. 4 — CHAPTER 4 The opened Road rough at the Outset
DIV. 5 — CHAPTER 5 The Evangelist
DIV. 6 — CHAPTER 6 The Evangelist
DIV. 7 — CHAPTER 7 The Missionary
DIV. 8 — CHAPTER 8 The Circuit Minister
DIV. 9 — CHAPTER 9 The Circuit Minister
BOOK II
MERIDIAN
DIV. 10 — CHAPTER 1 The Preacher
DIV. 11 — CHAPTER 2 The Pastor
DIV. 12 — CHAPTER 3 The Preacher and Pastor — continued
DIV. 13 — CHAPTER 4 The Preacher and Pastor — continued
DIV. 14 — CHAPTER 5 The President
DIV. 15 — CHAPTER 6 Itinerancy
DIV. 16 — CHAPTER 7 Itinerancy
DIV. 17 — CHAPTER 8 The Student and Scholar
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DIV. 18 — CHAPTER 9 The Student — continued
DIV. 19 — CHAPTER 10 The Author
DIV. 20 — CHAPTER 11 The Literary Servant of the State
DIV. 21 — CHAPTER 12 The Coadjutor of the Bible Society
DIV. 22 — CHAPTER 13 The Commentator
BOOK III
EVENING
DIV. 23 — CHAPTER 1 The Elder revered in the Church
DIV. 24 — CHAPTER 2 Honoured by the Great and Good
DIV. 25 — CHAPTER 3 The Philanthropist
DIV. 26 — CHAPTER 4 The Friend
DIV. 27 — CHAPTER 5 The Husband
DIV. 28 — CHAPTER 6 The Father
DIV. 29 — CHAPTER 7 The Saint, — in Life and Death
DIV. 30 — SUPPLEMENT of Illustrative Passages from Dr. Clarke’s
Correspondence
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ARCHAIC ENGLISH, LATIN, GREEK, AND OTHER FOREIGN
LANGUAGE SPELLINGS IN THIS ELECTRONIC EDITION
Transcriber Note: SPELLING CHANGES: Various ARCHAIC spellings
have been changed in the electronic version of this Clarke biography —
most involving the use of the letter “u” such as: “neighbour — to —
neighbor,” “labour — to — labor,” “favour — to — favor,” etc. Other
changed spellings include: “to-day — to — today,” to-night — to —
tonight,” and “to-morrow — to — tomorrow.”
FOREIGN LANGUAGE SPELLINGS: I tried to make sure that the Latin
words were spelled correctly, and I tried to type out the phonetic sound
of the Greek words in the text. I did not take Latin, German, or French in
school, and it has been over 30 years since I took Greek. My apologies to
those scholars who find errors involving the foreign languages in the text.
Should any feel inclined to send us the correction[s] of any spelling
error[s] in the text, please feel free to do so. — D.V.M.
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INTRODUCTORY
The most ancient book in the possession of mankind, the Genesis of
Moses, has enregistered for all time a series of biographical memoirs. The
Spirit of God, in dictating those recitals by His own inspiration, has thus
given a Divine and eternal signature to the lawfulness and utility of a
description of writing which perpetuates the names of the great and good,
re-echoes the words of the silent dead, and preserves, in imperishable
fragrance, the sanctities of their ended life. The same principle is inculcated
throughout the Bible. “The memory of the just is blessed.” “The righteous
shall be in everlasting remembrance.” Upon the Christian church the duty
is enjoined by an express command, to “remember them who have spoken
to us the word of God,” -and to imitate their faith. May he then who now
writes, and they who shall read, the words of this record, be stirred up to
follow the high example of him to whose memory these pages are
consecrated; remembering “the end of his conversation, Jesus Christ, the
same, yesterday, and today and for ever.”
A quarter of a century has already passed since this eminent servant of
God descended to the grave: yet, not for a day in this long interval has he
ceased to preach among the living the truths which it was the labor of his
life to illustrate and practice. And while some of his contemporaries, who,
in their day, made a considerable figure, have already disappeared in
oblivion, time, the great prover of all things, has, for the name of Adam
Clarke, authenticated a title to immortality. The worth of his character, his
massive and consecrated learning, the high motives of his laborious life,
and the enduring beneficence of its results, have all been verified by a
scrutinizing world.
The retrospect of such a career will strengthen the best aspirations of the
heart, and show us the way to attain their objects. Adam Clarke uplifts his
eyes, at the outset, to the true standard of human effort, — the glory and
approval of the Most High God. With this great ideal he holds such
habitual converse, as greatly to think, and feel, and live, till at length his
character brightens into a deathless grandeur, and he “stands in his lot”
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with those nobles of the universe who are “a kind of first-fruits” of the
creatures of God.
Few ministers of the Gospel in the present age, by the integrity of their
character, the splendor of their learning, and the sterling merit of their
works, have acquired more largely the veneration of enlightened and
impartial men in all parts of Christendom, than Dr. Clarke: and, if so many
of the good and great in every branch of the catholic church have learned to
esteem his memory, it well becomes that particular communion of which
he was a conspicuous ornament, and in the most intimate fellowship with
which he lived and died, to enshrine his name in her heart, and to teach it
to her children. “He was a burning and shining light;” and we, who, while
he was yet personally with us, rejoiced in the benefit of his luminous
ministration, should give some worthy attestation of our grateful estimate
of his labors and his love, and of our desire that those who follow us may
profit, to distant ages, by the unfading reflections of his wisdom, and the
inspirations of his great example.
Nor is there any need that this sacred tribute should be spoiled of its moral
effect by the use of exaggerated eulogy, or the pompous imbecilities of
laborious panegyric. No man requires this at our hand. We do not ask that
the name of Adam Clarke should be canonized, nor seek for him a niche in
the pantheon of imaginary saints, around whose heads a paganized
Romanism has traced the aureole of unearthly perfection. It is our aim to
fulfill the far more difficult but more fruitful task of portraying the actual
life of a sincere Christian, a diligent inquirer after truth, and a hard-working
and effective servant of God, and of man, in the diffusion of it, — clad, all
the while, in the everyday habiliments of suffering humanity.
And, if the most sun-like of characters have had their spots, and no mere
man, however great, has ever appeared without some imperfections and
littlenesses, the subject of our memoir will not be depreciated, if we find
that in opinion he was sometimes in error, or that in any of the partialities
or prejudices of the heart he gave evidence of being a fellow-creature, of
like passions with ourselves. But, after all, it will, I believe, be a common
conclusion, that he was more free from these inevitable blemishes than
most men; while, on the other hand, few instances may be adduced, in
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which a nobler model has been offered to the study and imitation of the
aspirant after real excellence. The lessons of his life teach those who are
asking after the way of salvation the secret of attaining true repose for the
conscience, and purification for the heart; the heroic enterprises of his
intellect animate the student to press into those regions of knowledge into
which he went as a pioneer, and where there remains so much land to be
possessed; the evangelist will be stirred up to seek the needed and
promised gifts of the Spirit, with whose uncreated flame this great doctor
of the church was so richly baptized; and, even with regard to secular
interests, in his advancement from the humblest circumstances to an
elevation in which he became the recognized teacher of teachers, and the
familiar friend of the prelate and the prince, young men may learn how, in
a country and age like ours, integrity and diligence in one’s allotted sphere
will not fail of their recompense of reward. In a word, in the progress of
his career, the living may learn how to live; and in its consummation, the
dying, how to die.
The providence and grace of God have, from age to age, raised up men
whose lives should be a beacon of hope to them who come after. “A true
intellect stands like a watchtower upon the shore.” The waves thunder
against it, and vanish in spray. Its clear and steady lamp burns in the
storm; a consolation and a guide, over the dark sea, to the haven of glory.
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PREFACE
It has been long felt that the communion of which the eminent person to
whose memory these pages are dedicated was a devoted minister, should
have its own record of his exemplary life; and the Committee charged with
the literary affairs of the Methodist Connection have the happiness of
stating that, by an arrangement with his surviving representatives, by
which the copyright of many inedited papers has come into their
possession, they are enabled to meet such a demand. Several years have
passed since the publication of any biography of Dr. Clarke; and we
believe that the time is now come when a new volume on the subject,
written on a plan altogether different from any already pursued, may be
offered without disparagement to the interests of preceding authors.
The ample materials placed at our disposal are sufficient for the creation of
a work as voluminous as some of our largest English biographies; those,
for example, of Chalmers or of Wilberforce: but the object of the
Committee, to offer a memoir which shall be accessible to readers in
general, would thereby have been defeated. A book of such dimensions,
like the Leviathan ship, is not always easily launched. As it is, we have the
satisfaction of believing that the present work will be found to present the
memorabilia of Dr. Adam Clarke’s life and character in such a clear and
true light as shall render it an acceptable gift to those who knew an him,
and a means of pleasure and profit to many others, who, now becoming
acquainted with his excellencies, will begin to love him too.
It will not be deemed at all disrespectful to the Doctor’s name, that we
have recounted the annals of his life without overloading our recital with a
cumbrous mass of particulars, which, important as they may have been in
their own hour, do not extend a sufficient influence on after-time to
demand a record on the page of history. This principle has been adopted
as the right one in all the ages of literature; and, therefore, some of the
choicest and most classic biographies, both ancient and modern, are
distinguished by their comparative brevity.
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We have to express our respectful sense of obligation to Mrs. Richard
Smith, the daughter and first biographer of Dr. Clarke, for the kindness
with which she has afforded every facility for the completion of this new
Life of her honored father; and, also, our best thanks to Messrs. W. Tegg
and Co., the proprietors of the Doctor’s voluminous works, for their
permission to re-publish the excellent portrait which gives an
embellishment to the present volume.
MARCH, 1858