PREFACE. It has long been 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 and loved him, and a means of pleasure and profit to many others, who, now becoming acquainted with his excellences, 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. 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 republish the excellent. portrait which gives an embellishment to the present volume. March, 1858. 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, to-day, and forever." 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 |