Dr. Adam Clarke

  General Notes:

Adam Clarke was the most influential British Methodist in generation after Wesley.

He was an Irishman born in either 1760 or 1762 in the county of Londonderry in Northern Ireland. His father was a Church of Ireland minister and his mother was a devout Presbyterian. His father, John Clarke ran a small farm and Adam, of robust physique, helped with the farming by guiding the plough.

In 1778 he converted to Methodist and began preaching in 1782. He joined the Wesleyan itinerancy later that year.

A preacher of great ability, Clarke served an unprecedented three terms as President of the Wesleyan Conference, and did much to hold the Connexion together during the troubled years that followed John Wesley's death.

He was also one of the greatest scholars of his age despite his lack of a university education. He was fluent in at least twenty languages and among his publications were the revised edition of Rymer's Foedera of the Public Records, and his famous Commentary on the Bible which is still in print. Clarke's writings were particularly influential in the development of the doctrine of sanctification in the American Holiness movement.


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Adam married Mary Cooke, daughter of John Cooke and Unknown, on 1788 Apr 17 in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England.²⁹⁴