John Wesley Etheridge - The Life of the REV. Adam Clarke

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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.

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 honoured 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.

long interval has he ceased to preach among the living the truths which it was the labour of his life to illustrate and practise. 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" 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 splendour 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 labours 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.