John Clarke (clergyman)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

John Clarke (born October 3, 1609 in Westhorpe , England , † April 20, 1676 in Newport , Rhode Island ) was an English doctor , Baptist preacher and politician . He is one of the co-founders of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations , where he also served as Lieutenant Governor. Clarke authored the Colony's statutes and was a leading advocate of religious freedom in America.

Early years

John Clarke, son of Rose Kerrich and Thomas Clarke was during the reign of James I in the county of Suffolk born. He was one of eight children. Six of them emigrated to America and settled there in New England . Nothing is known about John Clarke's youth. According to historian John Osborne Austin, he was married three times. His first wife was Elizabeth Harris, daughter of John Harris. He then married the widow Jane Fletcher and most recently Sarah Davis. There is no record of whether he became a father. It is also unknown which educational institution he attended. Some say it was Leiden University . Before arriving in the New World , he definitely studied theology , languages, and medicine .

New England

In New England, he first settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1637 . He later moved south to Rhode Island. Clarke was a supporter of the dissident Anne Hutchinson and the Anabaptists . He was one of those forced into exile by the Massachusetts Bay Colony. During that time he learned from Roger Williams that Aquidneck Island (Rhode Island) was available. He, William Coddington and other settlers then acquired this island from the Narragansets . The settlers then left Massachusetts and founded the settlement of Portsmouth on the island in 1638 . Clarke was one of the signatories to the Portsmouth Compact .

When William Coddington lost control of Portsmouth, he left the settlement with Clarke and seven other men and their families. They founded the new settlement of Newport, Rhode Island. Clarke was the head of the Puritan / Congregational church there. In the period that followed, however, there was a religious and political rift with Coddington. The congregation split into a Baptist section around 1644, while the majority eventually became Quakers when the movement emerged in Rhode Island in the 1650s.

Creation of the American Baptist denomination

In late 1638, Roger Williams, a companion of Clarke in the case of religious freedom in the New World, built a Baptist Church in Providence, Rhode Island, better known as the First Baptist Church in America . In 1847, Newport suddenly claimed that the First Baptist Church was built there first, which sparked a debate about which church came first. The great historians have concluded that the Church in Providence was built first. The main justification for this was the fact that Roger Williams served in that church and resigned as pastor there before Newport was even founded. Even Thomas Bicknell, who considered Clarke far more important than Williams, admitted that Providence was the first to be built.

The Dr. Clarke's Church in Newport is better known today as the United Baptist Church, John Clarke Memorial, of Newport. The current meetinghouse was built on Spring Street in 1846. In 1651 John Clarke, John Crandall, and Obadiah Holmes were arrested and imprisoned in Lynn, Massachusetts for conducting an illegal church service. This event and others like this formed the basis of Clarke's Ill Newes from New England, or a Narrative of New England's Persecutions of 1652. It contains Clarke's objection to freedom of religion. He wrote:

"It is not the will of the Lord than any one should have dominion over another man's conscience .... [Conscience] is such a sparkling beam from the Father of lights and spirits that it cannot be lorded over, commanded, or forced, either by men, devils, or angels. "

One Baptist historian described Clarke as:

"... the Baptist drum major for freedom in seventeenth century America."

Royal Bylaws of Charles II for the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations

Royal statute of 1663

In November 1651, Clarke traveled to London with Roger Williams to revoke the special patent which made William Coddington governor for life over Aquidneck Island and Conanicut Island , and to secure a new statute for the Colony of Rhode Island. After the Coddington Bylaws were revoked, Williams returned to Rhode Island in 1654, with Clarke remaining in England as colonial commissioner. When the monarchy was restored in 1660 and the 1644 constitution was invalidated, Clarke campaigned for a new constitution to be maintained. On July 8, 1663, Charles II approved a Royal Charter for Rhode Island . Clarke wrote the statutes, which included an express guarantee of religious freedom:

"That no person within the said colony, at any time hereafter shall be any wise molested [harassed], punished, disquieted, or called in question, for any differences in opinion in matters of religion, and do not actually disturb the civil peace of our said colony; but that all and every person and persons may, from time to time, and at all times hereafter, freely and fully have and enjoy his and their own judgments and consciences, in matters of religious concernments, throughout the tract of land hereafter mentioned, they behaving themselves peaceable and quietly ... "

The words of the Royal Bylaws are carved on the frieze of the Rhode Island House of Representatives :

"... to hold forth a lively experiment, that a most flourishing civil state may stand and best be maintained ... with a full liberty in religious concernments."

The statutes formed the basis of government in Rhode Island until 1842.

Clarke and Williams continued to work together to promote religious freedom. While Williams was a Baptist for only a few months, Clarke remained true to the faith for nearly forty years. Williams concluded that no apparent denomination was valid until God sent a new apostle to renew the faith. Therefore, he never joined any other denomination. Clarke pastored his Newport ward until his death. He practiced medicine for the purpose of financial support. Between 1664 and 1669 he was a member of the General Assembly. He then served as vice governor from 1669 to 1670 and from 1671 to 1672. Clarke died in Newport on April 20, 1676 and was then taken to the cemetery by Dr. Marcus Wheatland Boulevard, which was across the street behind the Newport Police Station, was buried.

philanthropy

His will provided for the establishment of a trust fund, which should be used:

"... for the relief of the poor or bringing up of children unto learning from time to time forever."

This trust fund is widely considered to be the oldest educational trust fund in the United States.

literature

  • Asher, Louis Franklin: John Clarke (1609–1676): Pioneer in American Medicine, Democratic Ideals, and Champion of Religious Liberty, ISBN 0-8059-4040-5
  • Clarke, John: The Century Cyclopedia of Names: A Pronouncing and Etymological Dictionary of Names in Geography, Biography, Mythology, History, Ethnology, Art, Archeology, Fiction, Etc., New York: Century Co, 1904
  • Leonard, Bill J .: Dictionary of Baptists in America, ISBN 0-8308-1447-7
  • Nelson, Wilbur: The Life of Dr. John Clarke

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Leon McBeth: The Baptist Heritage, Broadman Press, 1987, p. 136
  2. ^ Bill J. Leonard: Baptist Ways: A History, Judson Press, 2003, p. 74
  3. Jump up ↑ Sydney James: John Clark and His Legacies, Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999, pp. 15 and 26
  4. ↑ Walker, J. Brent: Religious Liberty and Church-State Separation, Baptist History and Heritage Society, 2003, p. 10
  5. ↑ Thomas Bicknell: The History of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Volume 2, American Historical Society, 1920, pp. 204f and 576
  6. ↑ a b Redwood Library and Athenaeum
  7. ^ Clarke, John: Ill Newes from New England, in Colonial Baptists: Massachusetts and Rhode Island, in The Baptist Tradition, edited by Edwin Gaustad, Arno Press, 1980, p. 6
  8. ↑ Walter B. Shurden: Baptist Freedom and the turn toward a Free Conscience: 1612-1652, in Turning Points in Baptist History, Mercer University Press, 2008, p 26
  9. ^ Rhode Island Royal Charter of 1663
  10. ^ Graves, Dan: Charles II. Granted Rhode Island New Charter , Christianity.com, June 2007
  11. ↑ James, Sydney V .: John Clarke and His Legacies: Religion and Law in Colonial Rhode Island, 1638–1750, ISBN 0-271-01849-6

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Clarke, John
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English doctor, Baptist minister and politician
DATE OF BIRTH October 3, 1609
PLACE OF BIRTH Westhorpe , England
DATE OF DEATH April 20, 1676
Place of death Newport , Rhode Island