John Clarke was a minister of the First Church in Boston

First Church in Boston

First Church in Boston is a Unitarian Universalist Church founded in 1630 by John Winthrop's original Puritan settlement in Boston, Massachusetts. The current building is on 66 Marlborough Street in Boston.-History:...

, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

, in the late 18th-century.

Biography

Clarke was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on April 13, 1755, to John Clarke and Sarah Clarke. He was educated at the Boston Public Latin School (class of 1761) and Harvard

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

 (class of 1774; MA 1777).

He joined the ministry of Boston's First Church in January 1778, and remained there until his death at age 42.

Clarke married Esther Orne; they had four children.

He was associated with the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

American Academy of Arts and Sciences

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...

; the Boston Library Society

Boston Library Society

The Boston Library Society was a subscription library established in 1792 in Boston, Massachusetts. Incorporated in 1794, it was open to anyone able to pay the fee...

; the Humane Society of Massachusetts; and the Massachusetts Historical Society

Massachusetts Historical Society

The Massachusetts Historical Society is a major historical archive specializing in early American, Massachusetts, and New England history...

.

He died in Boston on April 2, 1798.

Works by Clarke

• A letter to Doctor [Samuel] Mather. Occasioned by his disingenuous reflexions upon a certain pamphlet, entitled, Salvation for all men. 1782.
• A sermon delivered at the church in Brattle-Street
  Brattle Street Church
  The Brattle Street Church was a Congregational and Unitarian church on Brattle Street in Boston, Massachusetts.- Brief history :...
  
  , January 2, 1784 : at the interment of the Rev. Samuel Cooper
  Samuel Cooper (clergyman)
  Samuel Cooper was a Congregational minister in Boston, Massachusetts, affiliated with the Brattle Street Church.- Brief biography :...
  
  , D.D. who expired, December 29, 1783.
• A discourse, delivered at the First Church in Boston, February 15, 1787. At the interment of the Rev. Charles Chauncy, D.D. A.A.S. Its Senior Pastor, who expired, Feb. 10, 1787.
• A discourse delivered before the Humane Society of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts : at the semi-annual meeting, eleventh of June 1793.
• An answer to the question, why are you a Christian?] 1795; new ed. 1797.
• A discourse, delivered at the First Church in Boston, 19th April, A.D. 1795, the Lord's-Day after the interment of Nathaniel W. Appleton, M.D. 1796.
• Letters to a student in the University of Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1796.
• Sermons, by the late Reverend John Clarke, D.D. Minister of the First Church in Boston, Massachusetts. Boston: Samuel Hall, 1799.

Works about Clarke

• A. B. Ellis. History of the First Church in Boston, 1630-1880. Boston: Hall & Whiting, 1881.

External links

• WorldCat