marvellous adaptation of every one to the circumstances in which it was spoken. How inspiration may have affected an apostle's mind, in regard to his ability to judge of the thoughts and hearts of other men, we may not be able to decide; but Paul never showed himself more a man than in the wonderful adaptation of his addresses to his various audiences, and to the occasion on which he spoke. Nature, grace, and education combined, may not enable any preacher of a later day to rise to the level of this great example; but we conceive it to be the duty of every one who hopes for success in this ministry of salvation, to seek by all right possible means some good measure of conformity to this admirable pattern. And if one will study his discourses with reference to his audience as distinct from other audiences, and the varying moods and circumstances of the whole body or of particular individuals in it, and with a view to the characteristics of his time, the special errors and sins that are likely to be found among his people, and the duties that are calling for immediate attention from them, ever seeking for the best way to use old truths to accomplish the new purposes of the present, and to use the fresh interests of the day so as to bring his people more completely under the control of and into hearty sympathy with the grand old truths that alone can permanently minister to the strength and comfort of Christians, if one will study his discourses in this way, he will find ample scope for the greatest and most versatile powers of mind in this most difficult, as it is most important, work of preaching.

In this examination the work of the Spirit in giving efficacy to the word has not been overlooked, but the object of the investigation did not require us to consider this element in the complex powers producing the contemplated result. We have studied preaching as it appeared in the Acts rather than in the Epistles, the human element in it rather than the divine. In his epistles Paul writes as if he felt that he could do nothing,-the work is all God's, and he can accomplish it by the weakest means; but in his oral addresses he selects his themes, arranges the course of thought, forms his illustrations, adopts his style, enforces his arguments with the aptest appeals, as if all the work depended on himself. The faithful minister of the word of life will seek to imitate this exhibition of the character of the model preacher without neglecting the other.

WOLFVILLE, N. S.

A. W. SAWYER.

DR. JOHN CLARKE.

NE

EARLY two hundred years have passed away since the subject of this article went to his rest. Yet during all this period, no biography of him has appeared. No one has attempted to gather the scattered material into a connected whole, although some of our best writers have declared that the task ought to be undertaken. During his life he was almost constantly in public service, and was distinguished for his wisdom in conducting the affairs of a young commonwealth, whose government he was largely influential in shaping. Aside, however, from his public labors, which demand a generous recognition from a grateful people, he possessed elements of character which give him a claim upon the consideration of succeeding generations. He was, Mr. Arnold says, in his history of Rhode Island, "one of the most eminent men of the seventeenth century." And Mr. Palfrey, in his history of New England, accords to him a commanding place among his contemporaries, affirming that "for many years before his death he had been the most important citizen of his colony."

Mr. Clarke was, moreover, one of the fathers of our Baptist Israel, maintaining our faith with singular consistency, and defending it

with rare ability, and with self-denying zeal and devotion. "It is mortifying," says a writer in the Christian Review, "that we have allowed men like Clarke and Callender, Backus and Manning,—each of them an honored and true-hearted advocate of the faith we profess, at a time when this faith was despised and derided over the greater part of New England,-to pass away so nearly from the memory of men." While the last two have since each found a biographer, the other worthies mentioned still await a similar service. Speaking of Mr. Clarke, Professor Gammell remarks that "his life ought long ago to have been written, and every lineament of his pure and spotless character... should have been held forth to the respect and admiration of those who enjoy the fruits of his labors."

It

It is only the briefest outline of this life that we can attempt. is to be regretted that the materials for a full portraiture of his character are so meagre. Our sources of knowledge are principally the Rhode Island Colonial Records, which are quite full and well preserved; the few writings he himself has left to us; and the occasional allusions made to him by several of the early chroniclers and historians.

Of his early life we can learn but little. He was born October 8th, 1609, and, tradition says, in Bedfordshire, England. Another tradition makes him a native of Suffolk. That he possessed and improved most excellent advantages for acquiring a liberal culture his after life gives abundant proof. He became not only master of his native tongue, but learned in the ancient languages. He was "a scholar, bred probably at one of England's ancient universities," and felt the quickening influence of the intellectual activity of the age. His studies seem to have embraced a wide range, and to have included the principles of law, and the interpretation of the Scriptures in their originals. He also gave attention to medicine, which he afterwards practiced. To his early religious life we have scarcely a clue. But we know that he was a subject of regenerating grace before leaving the mother country, and doubtless emigrated for "conscience sake," that he might enjoy larger religious privileges. He may have been an accredited minister of the gospel, since the year after his arrival we read of his being engaged as a preacher. But whether he were a Baptist from the time of his conversion, or subsequently became one, we are left quite to conjecture. We know, however, of no record of any change of sentiments after his coming hither. A writer at the South, in a historical work entitled "Baptist Succession," informs us, without however giving the authority

1 Backus's History, second edition, i, 348.

for his statement, that "he received his baptism in Elder Stillwell's church, in London."1

When twenty-eight years of age he, with his wife, sailed from his native land, arriving at Boston not far from September, 1637. Seeking here, like multitudes of earnest Christians during this period, a place where unmolested he might worship God, a bitter disappointment awaited him. He was at once reminded that for holding views not entertained by the authorities, he was an object of suspicion and alarm. Immediately on his arrival, the arms with which, like all the colonists, he had furnished himself as a neccessary precaution against danger, were taken from him by the magistrates. It was a time of intense excitement in the Massachusetts colony. The "Antinomian controversy" was then at its height, enlisting all the people, whether learned or ignorant, as earnest partizans either on the one side or the other. At first purely religious, it became afterward a political strife. The one side emphasized law, and the other grace; the one order, and the other liberty. Although the "Antinomian" party was at one time by far the most numerous in Boston, "recruiting its ranks from the most accomplished as well as the most liberal of her citizens," the "Legalist" finally triumphed, and conformity was required, on the part of all, to the practice and belief of the established church.

Differences of opinion, Mr. Clarke tells us, appeared as soon as he was ashore. He had anticipated these, and had also anticipated a toleration of them. He had expected to find freedom from pains and penalties on account of differences in religious belief. In this expectation he was disappointed, and hence resolved not to remain but to go into the wilderness. Others joined him in this resolution, and he led a movement for colonizing, "having," he says, "Long Island and Delaware Bay in our eye for the place of our residence." But as in the case of so many other pilgrims, the Lord ordered otherwise. While some of the party went by water, around the Cape, Mr. Clarke, with others, crossed overland, by way of Providence, where he was "courteously and lovingly received" by Roger Williams. This may have been the first, though it was by no means the last meeting of these two men, who were to become so illustrious in

1 Rev D. B. Ray, Lexington, Ky. In a private letter, Mr. Ray gives the "Trilemma" of Rev. J. R. Graves, a book the writer has not seen, as his authority for the statement in the text. The author of the "Baptist Succession" has collected a great mass of interesting and very valuable material, and has arranged it with considerable skill. But although the present article appears at one point to affirm his position, its writer has little sympathy with the purpose of his work, having no more faith in Baptismal Succession" than in 'Apostolical."

Massachusetts Colonial Records, i, 212.

"

advocating and defending the doctrine of freedom. It was no casual meeting. Clarke was acquainted with the circumstances connected with Williams's banishment two years before, and understood the principles involved in it. He may have sought this conference in order to compare their views; perhaps to receive himself more light; perhaps to conduct his friend still further in the truth (it was the next year that Williams was baptized); perhaps to speak to him words of consolation and cheer, in his hiding place in the wilderness, as well as to obtain information respecting the surrounding country. Mr. Williams suggested, as a desirable place for the adventurers, either Lowams, now Barrington, or Aquidneck, now Rhode Island. After a journey to Plymouth, to learn whether these places were within her jurisdiction, Mr. Clarke selected the Island, inasmuch as it lay beyond the Plymouth claim; and he and his companions proposed to form an independent colony, with a government founded on liberty. A settlement, afterwards called Portsmouth, was first effected, at the north part of the Island; but the year following, in the beginning of 1639, a number of the people, including most of the prominent men, removed to the southwest, and began another settlement, to which they gave the name of Newport. The latter colony, "being the larger, seems to have taken with it and continued the Portsmouth records, which have been followed up to this time." At both places, Mr. Clarke was commissioned to survey the land, and apportion it among the inhabitants. The next year, 1640, the two settlements were united, under one government.

From its inception, Mr. Clarke was a leading spirit in the new colony. His life is so interwoven with its history, that to have a correct knowledge of the one neccessitates a knowledge of the other. He was almost always employed for the public good. His disciplined mind brought constant and invaluable aid to the infant colony. To no one, perhaps, was the colony under greater obligations than to him. Yet so quietly and unobtrusively did he do his work that his great merits have not been duly appreciated. But the careful student of this early period discovers in him the colony's guiding genius. The better his history is known, the more commanding is the position assigned him.

We now enter upon an interesting passage of history. We are to follow Clarke and his associates, as they address themselves to the difficult task of framing a government. We make him prominent, because, as we shall see in the sequel, he was probably the author of the form of government adopted, and of the code of laws by which it

1 Rhode Island Colonial Records, i, 69.