CLARKE, SAMUEL, an eminent divine and philolo gist, was born at Norwich in the month of October 1675. His father, Mr Edward Clark, a gentleman of high re spectability, was an alderman of that city, and for some years one of its representatives in parliament. After acquiring in the grammer school of Norwich a consider able acquaintance with the learned languages, young Clarke was, at the age of sixteen, entered a student at Caius College in Cambridge. Here the splendour of his talents, and his unwearied assiduity in the pursuit of knowledge, soon attracted general admiration. The in genious but fanciful theories of Descartes were still held in high esteem, and taught with enthusiastic zeal in the university of Cambridge. But their fallacy was easily detected by the penetrating genius of Clarke, who, young as lie was, had carefully studied and thoroughly under stood the Principia of Newton, then recently published; and while the sublime discoveries of that great philoso pher were slowly making their way against ancient pre judices, and were comprehended and appreciated only by a few profound mathematicians, this youthful admirer was meditating the most effectual plan of recommending them to more general observation. With this view h. undertook the arduous task of translatinty 11 um barbarous into elegant Latin, Rohault's of Philosophy, then the text book in the university, to which he subjoined a variety of judicious and excellent notes, calculated to lead the student insensibly to the perception of the absur dities of the Cartesian hypothesis, and to the adoption of the new theory. This task he executed with great ability, and complete success. his translation of Ro hault, passing through four editions, continued for ma ny years the standing text-book in the university, till it at length gave way to the avowedly Newtonian publications of Rutherforth and Rowning.
Having directed his views to the church, he now gave his whole attention to the studies which he considered necessary to qualify him for the able and faithful excl.,. else of the sacred office. He began by perusing, in the original languages, the scriptures of the Old and New Testament, and the writings of the primitive Christian fathers; his accurate knowledge of which is admirably displayed in many of his theological publications. Soon
after taking holy orders, he was introduced by Mr ton to Dr Moore, bishop of Norwich, an ardent admirer of literature, and a zealous patron of learned men. On the collation of Whiston to the living of Lowestoffe, (1698), the bishop appointed Mr Clarke his domestic chaplain. During the twelve years that he remained in this situation, he lived with his learned patron on the friendly and familiar habits of a brother; and the bishop, at his death, gave the most unequivocal proof of the high value which he entertained for him, by confiding to him the entire management of his family concerns.
In 1699, he published Three practical Essays upon. Baptism, Confirmation, and Repentance, and anonymous reflections on part of a book called Amyntor, the produc tion of Toland, who rejected as spurious the writings as cribed to some of the apostles and primitive Christians, and refused to acknowledge the inspiration of the evan gelists St Mark and St Luke. These publications, though inferior in literary merit to the subsequent productions of our author, are highly creditable to his piety, and show him to have been, even at his outset in his theolo gical career, intimately acquainted with the practices and the writings of the early Christians. His next publication was a " Paraphrase on the Gospel of St Matthew," which appeared in 1701, and was soon followed by Paraphrases on the other three Gospels of Mark, Luke, and John. His object, as he himself informs us, was to " express the full sense of the evangelists in the plainest words, and to continue the sense without interruption, by the clearest transitions he could." The admirable manner in which he has executed this undertaking, leaves us much reason to regret, that other avocations prevented him from pursuing his original intention of giving a simi lar paraphrase of all the books of the New Testament.