1981 May.Pdf
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Rhode Island History Pubhshcd h)' The RhClJ ~ J~I~nJ Hrstoncal Volume 40, N um ber 2 May 1981 SOOt'IV, ,1 I'I'....e t " l rl"l:l, Providenc e, Rhod e 1~I.mJ. 01yof>, and punted bv a /{rant hom the "ule "I Rhode lsland and Providen ce Planta er ..n-, I I ,, ~ ph Ga fuhy, Gove rnor Conten ts Icsued Ouarrerlv .11 Providence. Rhode 1~I ~ nJ , February .\'by, AU.";\l~ I . anJ Novem ber Second d~" ro:l!> I~/{l" pa rd ;II A Colonial Fifth Monarchist ?: Providence, Rhod e hl~ nJ John Clarke of Rhode Island Edrtorral urtit:c~ at Aldnch H"use. RI CHARD L .G R E A V E S 110 Benevolent St ree t. Providence Rhode blanJ, 01901> H. Hx hard F ~ l d p l l''' prr'ICE,.nr George Corliss: 5 I IJden \1 \ rllk l">Ol1 I rn' prr"d.'nl Engineer, Architect , Philanthropist Frank Ln.ht. fit,. prr-Id"m RI{h.l.rd \ Sherman. ,,,-rrlurll R OBERT w . KE NNY \ 1 Hac hel Cunha U"I,!un! vnrlurll I.;arl F f .rlt ..ull . Ir,.uua'l·r Stephen C W tl h .l. m ~ , u""lun! Irt'U .,urrT In the World of Spirits: 6; ,\lbt'rl T Klv ber g dim/or An Account of an Early "Afterlife" FEllOW \>ot THt ~O{' f nY Experience Carl Br1Ik'nh.l.u 'o:h Svdnev \: J.l.mt'" HAROLD KEMBLE Amomeue F l)o'. mlllf. I' l BlIC!oIlU"" {"(" I~ lltt tt Book Review Dr Sl't'hcrl J Go I<l<lW'I.\, ,hlHrmU1/ C,,,ldoll Allen 11"111'1 L l' Beckwnh j r Dr FraIK'I" II CtMlt'l' Prof ll cwnrd I' Lhu d.n cti 01 Pamck T Con[I'\ Wend e ll 0 Oam-n Pamela A l.;en l1t..:!1 E. Andrew \1<m hra\' Charles I' U'Donucll Alan Stmpson "r!o n (;}enll W,lrn'l) L ,ElIlla, lI', rdi tor Hobert S ('0<.11>11, ",p., ,·drtIJT \ Iaun'l:n Tavlor. pldra,· ,.,II/o r .lean J.t'(;Wlll dnlf/rrI'T Deborah S Do ohnle. f"(llIoriul U""'<I '" TIlt' Hhodv lvlaud Hrstunc al SOUI'I\ a-vume no rt ' ~ Pl' n , jt ll li l \' I'"r 111(- "I' f lllon~ of conrnbutorc Rh,od., /' hllld 1I" ' oTI/ Ill-ll- . and u-, pred t..:: · t· ~ ", r ~ Hlu"I,· "Iond 1I,, ' ol/l ul Snc-wl.,Cnllnflo", f 4f K -I ~' ' ,md PflbJ,Ulf",,,. oj ,Ill' Hh,od,' h/u1/J /1" ' 01/( <1 1 Son,",., ( f &n- 1(jOi . _. n' a\.uJahk III nn crotilm Irom L'ruvs-rvuv \ lIln., hlm~ 300 ~ (J nh lA..ch Ruad, ,\1111 \1'1"'1 \hdll l;.!n, -tlh oh Pit,a"" wnn- Inr (tlfIlpl,-lt' l/IltJr lll.l.Uun , \nltlt'~ "PI'(',llIn~ III lin... journal are ab..!t,lt It'll ,lIKlmd'''\t..:! III H f ~ r V rl , u l \/"'Tmf,;md l""'T/'" //"f(lr~ ,/lid L,je This portrait, att ributed to Cuilliam de ville. a Dutch artist. is said to be a likeness of fohn Clarke ( J 6 0 9 - J 6 1 6}. Clarke founded a Baptist ch urch In Newport around 1644 and spent thirteen yean In England (16j 1-16641 a .~ an aj{enl for the Colon.v of Rhode Island. Courtesy of Redwood Library. A Colonial Fifth Monarchist ?: John Clarke of Rhode Island by Richard L. Greaves' Two letters by lohn Clarke wmten in England in the re scs. while he • Mr Creaves I~ '" protessor 01 fu~t or y "'I represented the colony of Rhode Island , throw valuable light on hIS per FlofllU SUle Uruversttv I. The teuers are edu ed b)· BR. While . sonal afflhanons and religious ideology.' The letters were acquired "Earlv B.apUM Letters Ill," BaprJSI Quar by the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary following their sale at Ifrly. XXVII 11971), I.U -1.l9· 1 For the FIlth ~l on;lr chl~l~ see BS Sothebv's on lune 20 , 1974. Both are addressed to CoL Robert Bennett C",pp, Thr Flfrh .\ Ionarchy .\ Irn A Srud.v lor Bennet. t60S -1 68} !, an influential republican MP and a Particular In Se\'en rulllh-Celllun' EnglI sh .\fl1/e Baptist. In the letters lie dues mdrcaung the likelihood that the colo nanennm [London. Illnl. \ C l... rke'!> hie 1 ~ summarized In the nial lohn Clarke was the same man as the lohn Clarke affiliated in the D,clwnarv of Amefl con BJOgrIJph\·, the J6S0S with the Filth Monarchists, the radical millenarian group which D,c lwnll ry of NIJl/onlJ1 BIography, and A expected the imminc:nt return of King Jesus, and which espoused such BJographrc<l1 D,cllOnlJ,.\' of Bwuh R<J dJ· c<lh m Ihe Sevelll eem h Cemurv, ed. things as government by the saints, legal reform, the cessation of Rlch,mJ l Gr...... ves and Roben Zallet, J tithes, and the abolition of the state church." \'(1) IBn ,lth ton. SU~5t:x . 198 1 if.!, hereafter cited R DBR See also Thomas w Bsck Clarke'... early career provides the ideological and psychological foun nell . The Srorv of tonn Clarke [Prov dation for hrs pu rsuit of a radica l course in the rs cos. Born at wcs rdence, Illr l l. 4 john Clarke, fl/-Ne .....rs from Ne ..... En thorpe. Suffolk, on October 8, It'09, he was the sixth of the eight chil slllnd. In ....b'5;1Chus.eU5 Hrsroncal So· dren of Thomas Clarke of Bedfordshtrc and his wife Rose, daughter of clety. Collect/om, 41h See., II. 14. William Kernch of Suffolk. In 16,6 Clarke described himself as a phy ~ Record\ of rhe Colony 0; Rhode 15· land and Providence PlalllarlOllS In New sician, suggesnng the possibility that he may have attended a univcr Englond, ed lohn RU55ell Barrlc tr, 10 sitv. He married Elizabeth Harris, probably before 1637, and trom her vols. {providence, 18"', -186,1, I, ~1 , here alter cued as R/CR father received the ma nor of wrcstltngworrh, Bedfordshire, in 10\6. ' fl . Samuel Hugh Brockurner, The lire Cla rke emigrated to Boston, Massachusetts, arriving in Nove mber pre<.ql)!e Democrat ROl{cr Wl1llam,\ 1617. Manifest ing radical theological tenet s, he supported the rcce mlv INl"w York. 1114 01, 110 defeated Antinomians and thereby became persona 1l0ll j{wta. Follow ing a sojourn with other Antinomians to Exeter, New Hampshire, duro ing the Winter of 1(,17 -163~ , Clarke went to Providence to consult with Roger Williams whose own troubles with the Bay au thorities Cla rke regarded as a matter of conscience.' Back in the Ray Colony, Cla rke and others formed a compact on March 7, 1617/8 , to cstabhsh a body pohtic at Aqu idncck III Narragansett Bay.' A deed fnr the land was acquired from the sachem s on March l~ , thanks to the negouanng efforts of williams." In April 10 \9 , Clarke mo vcd from Portsmouth, the Aquidneck Island sen lerncnt. where he had been a sepa ratist Congre gational minister, III Newport. where he contributed to the new settle ment by parncipanng 111 CIvIC affairs and pracncmg rnedicme. There IS no record of when he initially adopted Particular Baptist tenets, but It was apparently during his early years at Newport. A CO lO !'.; I Al fifTIl " Ol' AR CHI ...r : , Wilham G " ', lou ~[ In, ,...·t·w tn About 11'o.l4 he founded a Raptist church In Newport wi th the as gland i.nvsetu, II> 10- I III 1, 1 vnh tCam sis tancc of Mark Lucar. a London Partrculnr Baptist who had been asso bndue. M a ~~ " J<n 11, I, II, RVli R , S.V , Lucar crated with such inlluent ial Bapt ist leaders as Richard Blunt, Sam uel ~ Champlin HUff.l/:e, The huh' E ngll ~ h Blacklock, and William Kiffin. Together Clarke and Lucar espoused DI.~sen un In ,he lI~hl 0; Recem Re rm llcnanan principles too extreme even for Williams. who referred drs ~ .Jrch /1'0 10- 11>-i 1/ ]CamonJlte. 111111. I, H'I> Wllham s hlm-..:lt was oi nullemnan paragmglv to their "prophecic -, concemmg the r1Stn~ 01 ChrJM '~ KIn~ ' See W Clark Gilpin. The .\ fl/It'nllllan dom after the desolations ny Rnrne." Among those who iomcd the P,eI Y 0/ R~n Wli/la ms \Chlc.lIo:". 111'1" \11 \I Brockumer, ITleples."bl .. l kmllCfal. church of C larke .md Lucar were convert ... from Seekonk (in Ply mout h 's te rritory) and dissidents from John Co rron's Bo... tu n conurcga '"10 The COnJpit',e Wm1llX ~ lit Ruga tion wh o had su ppor ted Henry Vane, lr., III rhe Antinomian COntro ....'llJWnJ I, cd. lohn Ru~,dl B.utlcH. repr ...d., 7 vols . [New Yurk , l\i6,l, VI, ) I \ , versy. Cla rke and Obadiah Hol mes WCTe, m fact , indicted by a grand Geurlte Selement. -fohn Clarke and the iury at Plymouth for their religious acnvmes at Seekonk, but escaped SrruAAle for Serarallon 01 Ch urch and Slate. FOl/nJaflOm A Bapl H f 101/ 1n<11 01 punishment by raking refuge In Rhode Island. ' Meanwhile Clarke's Huunv and Th"% g.'l, XV ll",nl, status as a leader was reflected in his service as an assistant and as a II I - I) " H .'1. K m R. ASu mmelVJ~ Jlll t treasurer to the Court of Commiss ione rs, ..... hieh met at W.1TWIC k in Three Rhode isla nders to ,he .\las ~a ,hll\frH Bay In l/>t I (Provid ence.