At Moorfield in London.--Returns to Georgia.--Received as a
Preacher on Trial.--Richmond Circuit.--Testimonials.--
Character as a Preacher.--Walked the Circuit.--Views on the
Methodist Episcopal Government.--Views on Slavery.--Blameless
Habits.--Thoughts on Marriage.--Love cured by Prayer.--
Gradual change of Views.--Contemplates a New Field.--Quarterly
Conference.--Conscientious Scruples.--Philanthropy to Negroes.
--Withdraws from the Conference.--Parting Scene.
In a few days Mr. Clark found himself in London, and located at a
cheap and retired boarding house in a pious Methodist family. He now
sought acquaintance with several of the more intelligent class of Mr.
Wesley’s preachers, told them his trials and convictions of duty, and
solicited advice. He was directed to the publications of Mr. Wesley,
and also those of Rev. John Fletcher, of Madeley, and by reading and
conversations with the venerable John Wesley, who treated him with
great kindness, he obtained full and clear views of the doctrines they
taught, the discipline they enforced, and their reasons for separate
action from the Church of England.
We have no facts to narrate particulars of the extent of Mr. Clark’s
studies, nor how long he remained in the vicinity of Moorfields.
His interviews with the venerable founder of Methodism, then in
the 85th year of his age, were frequent, and as he thought highly
instructive. And though in a few years he found reasons to withdraw
from the society he founded and the creed and discipline he adopted, he
often referred to him in his preaching and private conversations as the
“great and good Mr. Wesley;” and he would state his views on various
points with accuracy and in kind and courteous language. He also
became acquainted with the writings and peculiar views of the noted
German Bengel, or, as his name was given in Latin, _Bengelius_, and
imbibed some of his peculiar notions. Those especially relating to the
millennium found in Bengel’s exposition of the Book of Revelation, were
often given by Father Clark. Bengel figured up the periods, and taught
that the forty-two months, or twelve hundred and sixty days, expired
in 1810, and the Millennium would commence in 1836. The Millennium,
in the sense Father Clark understood it, was not the _personal_, but
the more gracious and glorious reign of Christ on earth as Mediator
and Saviour. On this topic he would dwell with a holy ecstacy, while
his great modesty and humility led him to express himself as uttering
the opinions of a man merely. He never attempted to make proselytes to
speculations or opinions, but to Christ and entire submission to him.
We have no knowledge whether Mr. Clark commenced preaching in London,
but as what was called “lay-preaching” was customary by persons not in
“orders” in the church, or not officially authorized by dissenters, we
are of opinion our friend did engage in this manner. We are equally
deficient in the particulars of his return to America, but think it was
in 1789; and to his late residence on Broad river in Georgia. No family
received him with more tokens of Christian affection and joy than
that of Colonel Wootten. His mind was now deeply impressed with the
duty of devoting his life as an instrument of salvation to his fellow
creatures. It is supposed he commenced preaching in company with the
regular circuit preachers soon after his arrival in Georgia. In 1791,
his name appears for the first time on the Conference Minutes of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, when he was received on trial and placed on
Richmond circuit[22]. This was in the region of Augusta. The Conference
was held in February, and he went forth, as was ever afterward his
custom, like his blessed Lord, with staff in hand, and on foot to
perform the work whereunto he had been called. We find his name on
the Conference Minutes from 1791 to 1796, passing through the regular
grades of probationary service, until ordained as deacon by bishop
Asbury in the winter of 1794[23].
The circuits on which he labored, in most instances, were new ones,
and in that part of Georgia which lies above Augusta and between the
Savannah and Oconee rivers.
TABULAR STATEMENT.
+-------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
| YEAR. | CIRCUIT. | No. of White | No. of Black |
| | | Members. | Members. |
+-------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
| 1791 | Richmond, | 500 | 72 |
| 1792 | Oconee, | 220 | 21 |
| 1793 | Bush River, | 555 | 30 |
| 1794 | Broad River, | 435 | 68 |
| 1795 | Union, | 376 | 39 |
+-------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
As a Methodist preacher, he was faithful in the ministry, and
successful in the conversion of sinners. We have seen persons who were
under his ministerial charge, and who spoke of him in strong terms, as
an interesting and spiritually minded preacher. Of these we will name
one, Mr. Thomas Hatton, who resided in 1834 in the upper part of Boone
county, Mo., an old man, whom we visited for the purpose of learning
the characteristics of the ministry of Father Clark in Georgia. Mr.
Hatton was a class-leader and steward on the circuit of Mr. Clark in
1794. His house was one of the preaching stations, and he was with him
at the quarterly conferences in the district, and spoke of him as a
lively, spiritual preacher, greatly beloved by the people, and his
labors as very successful. He _walked_ the circuit, and could not be
induced by his brethren to ride a horse. When asked for the reasons of
his objections to traveling on horseback, he pleasantly remarked, “The
Saviour walked on his preaching excursions in Judea.” There were other
reasons assigned, and to his intimate friends he would say, “As long as
my fellow creatures are made beasts of burden, I cannot feel easy on
horseback.” The fact is, he had never been accustomed to exercise on
horseback, had no skill in managing one, and was distressingly fearful
he should injure the horse, or the horse would harm him. No animal
exceeds a horse in sagacity to find out the feelings and fears of his
rider, and his behavior corresponds. No man felt more uncomfortable
than Father Clark on horseback, and hence he preferred walking, until
it became to him the least fatiguing mode of traveling.
We have given a sketch of his strong feelings and conscientious
principles in favor of personal liberty when pressed on the man-of-war.
These feelings and principles increased and became the more firmly
established as he advanced in life. He never disguised his sentiments;
and never announced them in any public form, without the clearest
conviction of duty and in the way of doing good. Mr. Hatton stated
that generally on his circuit he put up at houses where there were no
slaves, while his intercourse and demeanor were such as to give no
offense, or excite suspicions of improper designs.
The same views of equality and freedom, led him to investigate,
prayerfully and scripturally, the ecclesiastical government and code of
discipline instituted by Mr. Wesley, and introduced into the American
conferences. Personally, and as a great reformer in the church of
England, Father Clark had great veneration for John Wesley, but he
was singularly scriptural and conscientious in all his religious
views, and learned from the New Testament that a church was a local
society, with all its members on terms of social equality; that church
fellowship involves personal acquaintance; and that all discipline
should begin and end in the local society or church, in which the
members are in covenant relation. The more he considered the form of
government of the Methodist Episcopal church, the more did he become
conscientiously opposed to giving it the sanction that a minister
and ruler necessarily implied. Yet he came to no hasty conclusions,
made no denunciations of his brethren in authority, but continued
calmly to investigate the subject and offer up prayer daily for divine
illumination. He never set himself forward as a leader in schism,
nor is there any evidence that he made the least attempt to produce
disaffection among his brethren, or lead off a party, or even make a
single proselyte.
At the same time, his sympathies were awakened and his humane feelings
much afflicted with the treatment of slaves around him. That class
of people were increasing, and their well-being less an object of
concern to their masters, than the profits of their labor. Large
numbers were imported annually into Charleston, by northern ships, and
as the demand for laborers increased, many natives of Africa in the
most abject condition were purchased and brought within his circuits.
These were ignorant and stupid, and seemed almost beyond the reach of
gospel ministrations. A single object was the aim of all his labors; to
glorify the Lord by promoting the salvation of sinners of every nation,
condition and color.
Being perfectly frank, open, undisguised and courteous in his
intercourse with the planters, he had freedom of access to their slaves
for purposes of religious instruction; a privilege he never abused, nor
did he cause any one to doubt his sincerity.
Still the customs and usages of the planters were not congenial to the
simplicity and humility of his nature, and it had been a matter of
anxious inquiry, and prayer for divine direction, where the Lord would
have him labor. He did not expect any other revelation from heaven than
that contained in the Bible, yet he had such simple faith in the divine
promises, and such unshaken confidence in God’s directing providence,
as to believe in and look for specific answers to prayer when in doubt
and difficulty. He expected, and received impressions of mind, in
answer to prayer, that to him were satisfactory, and we are not aware
in a single instance in which he was misled by following these answers
to prayer, as he called them.
It was at some period of his labors as a circuit preacher in Georgia,
that his thoughts were directed towards marriage; and he became
acquainted with a pious and sensible young woman, of excellent
character and well brought up, towards whom he thought he felt such
attachment as would justify a more intimate acquaintance. Her society
was agreeable and pleasant, her conversation intelligent and serious.
He made no direct proposals, but their intercourse had been such
that she might naturally look for a more explicit explanation of his
views. He found his heart was drawn out after this young woman, and
her parents treated him with more than customary respect. She became
the object of his thoughts by day, and her image flitted through his
imagination while in dream-land at night. He discovered that when he
ought to have been pondering over the topics of his next discourse,
as he was slowly walking the pathway to his appointments, he was
meditating plans of future happiness in the domestic relation. His
spiritual intercourse with heaven was less frequent, his devotional
feelings grew languid, and his sermons were dull and unimpressive.
Spiritual joys were fled. It was now a crisis in his spiritual course.
He durst not forsake the calling to which God had directed him,
nor lessen his usefulness as a minister of Christ, by any earthly
associations, or any schemes of domestic happiness. He had one antidote
for all his troubles; one guide through every labyrinth of trial and
duty; that was PRAYER, prolonged and repeated until he was effectually
humbled, and entirely willing to know and do his duty. He could deny
himself of any lawful gratification, take up the cross and follow
Christ with resolute determination and untiring perseverance. He had
acquired this power by growth in grace, and the knowledge of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ.
The answer he obtained in deep and lasting impressions of mind, was,
never to marry and thereby entangle himself with the affairs of this
world. The conflict was over; the victory was won, and he went on his
way preaching, with renewed unction and great enlargement.
Though he had not mentioned marriage to the young woman, much less
gained her affections and raised hopes, by solemn protestations and
promises to be now blasted, he had that nice sense of honor; or shall
we say Christian duty, to make her a final visit and avow his feelings,
and the conclusion to which he had arrived on a point of duty to God
and the church. He expressed the hope she would ever regard him with
Christian friendship. His age at this period must have been about
thirty-five years, and no one after ever heard him express a desire,
or a regret concerning the connubial relation.
His anxieties about leaving the Methodist Episcopal church, and his
feelings relative to slavery, were at a culminating point in 1795. His
views of slaveholding were not discordant with the expressions of the
church he served. This subject had been agitated in the Conferences
for several years. In the minutes for 1784, we find this rule, in the
forms of question and answer, and it remained in force during the whole
period of Mr. Clark’s connection with the Conference:
“_Ques. 12. What shall we do with our friends that buy and sell
slaves?_
“_Ans._ If they buy with no other design than to hold them as
slaves, and have been previously warned, they shall be expelled,
and permitted to sell on no consideration.”[24]
In answer to his oft repeated prayer for divine direction as to
the field of his future labors, he received the impression, and it
became a conviction of duty, that he must travel in a north-western
direction. Tennessee and Kentucky were in that direction, and the
Illinois country, and the Spanish province of Upper Louisiana far
in the distance beyond; but he felt a calm confidence in Divine
Providence, and that the specific field of usefulness would be pointed
out in due season. All these questions were agitated and settled in his
own judgment and conscience, before he made known his decision to his
brethren.
The next Annual Conference would be in Charleston, January 1st, 1796,
but it was not necessary for him to be present. His withdrawal could
be tendered by some of the brethren. He attended the last Quarterly
Conference in the district, where he gave notice of his intention
of a withdrawal from the government and discipline of the Methodist
Episcopal Church. This he had a right to do without any forfeiture or
implication of his ministerial character. His brethren respected his
feelings and scruples, and would give a fair representation of his case
to the Annual Conference.
The schism caused by Rev. James O’Kelley, in Virginia, had commenced
in 1792, and at one period threatened a formidable rupture in the
Methodist connexion throughout the Southern States. Mr. O’Kelley was
troubled about the appointing power of the bishop, and other features
of ecclesiastical authority. He was a very popular preacher, and had
the qualifications and desire for the leader of a party. He made both
personal and official attacks on bishop Asbury, but the Conference
sustained the Bishop by a large majority. Doubtless Mr. Clark accorded
with the opinions of Mr. O’Kelley in his views of the undue authority
conferred on the bishop by the constitution of the Society, but he
had none of his spirit as a partizan, was in both theory and practice
a peace-maker, and respected the views and feelings of his brethren,
though he conscientiously differed from them. His views were deeper
and covered far more ground than those of O’Kelley. All his notions of
church government and discipline were drawn from the New Testament, and
he regarded that as sole authority in the case.
There were also points of doctrine wherein he differed from his
Methodist brethren. He could not reconcile the dogma of “falling from
grace,” with the entire dependence of the believer on the righteousness
and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ; nor of sinless perfection with the
universal fact of the moral infirmities and soul-humbling confessions
of the best of Christians. And he preached repentance in a more
evangelical form than many of his brethren, and always made the
distinction plain between the awakened sinner, though under the most
pungent convictions, and the truly penitent.
Such being his moral temper, and course of action, no unkind feelings
took place when he announced his intentions, and sent to the Annual
Conference the report of his circuit and announcement of his withdrawal.
His field of labor for most of the years he had been connected with
the Conference, was on new circuits. Though not in name, he was in
fact, the Conference missionary, and each year had extended the
appointments in his circuit. At the Quarterly Conference to which
we have alluded, the stewards brought in the collections for the
preachers, and the deficiencies were made up. It had caused some
uneasiness to the sensitive conscience of Father Clark that much the
largest contributions came from the wealthy who were slaveholders, and
he thought of the perquisites bestowed as the proceeds of the sweat
and toils of servitude. He had heretofore received his share in the
collections with many misgivings, and now as he was about to leave, he
hesitated about taking such proceeds with him.
The amount of salary then allowed a circuit preacher, without family,
was sixty-four dollars, and he had received but a small amount of it.
The balance, about fifty dollars, was paid to him by the stewards, all
in silver coin. He took the money, tied it in his handkerchief, and
retired from the Conference room to a grove, his feelings agitated
with the question of duty about receiving this money; and sought
for direction in prayer, as he was wont to do in every perplexity.
Obtaining relief, he returned to the Conference room, laid the money on
the table, and calmly said, “Brethren, I cannot take it. You know my
trials; the Conference may use it as the brethren please;” and again
went out.
There was within the bounds of this district a case that called for
relief. A society of blacks, of course slaves, had purchased a house
and a few acres of land for a burying-ground. They had paid in part,
but their last instalment of about seventy dollars would soon be due,
and if not met, the property would be forfeited; and they applied to
the Conference for aid. The case was called up during preacher Clark’s
absence, and one of the brethren suggested that the money returned
by “brother Clark,” still lying on the table, be applied to this
charitable purpose. A smile of joy lighted up the features of the
Conference, when, on the suggestion that there would be lacking some
twenty dollars, brother R. arose and proposed to be one of ten to
liquidate the debt. Mr. Clark having returned from his place of prayer,
and being told by the president of the motion to dispose of his money,
and how that disposition would suit his views, by relieving the black
brethren, he replied: “Brethren, I could not conscientiously use the
money myself, and I returned it to the Conference; it is theirs, to do
as they please; but as they have kindly inquired about my feelings in
the case, it meets my hearty approbation. It goes where it ought, to
relieve those who have produced it.”
In this last interview with a brother, who doubtless they pitied for
his singular notions, there was not an unkind word said, nor a sour,
unpleasant look seen. They understood he was about to leave that part
of the country, and kindly inquired where he would direct his course.
“Like the good old patriarch, I am going to a country I never saw, and
rejoice in the same Lord to direct my steps.”
The business of the Conference being ended, they engaged in the parting
exercises. The brother who presided gave a few words of parting advice,
and called on brother Clark to lead in prayer, when with loud and
tremulous voices, and the tears streaming down their cheeks, they sung
the well-known hymn,
“Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above;” etc.[25]
while hand was clasped in hand, and arms thrown around each others
necks, and loud shouts of praise ascended to their common Father.
It was in this manner Father Clark parted with his brethren in
Georgia, and took his leave of the Methodist Episcopal Church as an
ecclesiastical institution.
It is nothing new or strange for a man to change his religion, or leave
one sect and go over to another. And nothing is more natural when men
are actuated by prejudices, or partizan feelings, than to turn all
these passions against the party they have left. Not so did the good
man whose history we are surveying. His religion was that of love; and
his natural temper, mild, placable, and forbearing, was so much under
the controlling influence of the love of God as to sanctify and give a
heavenly tinge to his natural disposition.
Though he differed from his brethren, and in all honesty of intention
thought their church government and some of their doctrines and
practices unscriptural, he still loved them as Christians, and knew
they were performing a great work in Georgia. Had he been denunciatory,
overbearing, ambitious of ruling, obstinate, or petulant, their
dislike of these offensive traits of character, might soon have
degenerated into hatred of his person. We never knew a man more nice
and discriminating in the line between his own rights and privileges,
and those of his brethren. They might have felt emotions of pity and
regret, for what they regarded as singular notions, and fancied these
notions would hinder, if not destroy his usefulness. Still they loved
him and gave him their good wishes.
His connexion was not formally dissolved until the Annual Conference
met in January, when the following entry was made on the Minutes.
“_Ques. 8. What preachers have withdrawn themselves this year from our
order and connexion?_
“_Ans._ William Ball and _John Clark_.”