ok
in the university till supplanted by the treatises of Newton, which it
had been designed to introduce. Four editions were issued, the last and
best being that of 1718. It was translated into English in 1723 by his
brother Dr John Clarke (1682-1757), dean of Sarum.

Clarke afterwards devoted himself to the study of Scripture in the
original, and of the primitive Christian writers. Having taken holy
orders, he became chaplain to John Moore (1646-1714), bishop of Norwich,
who was ever afterwards his friend and patron. In 1699 he published two
treatises,--one entitled _Three Practical Essays on Baptism,
Confirmation and Repentance_, and the other, _Some Reflections on that
part of a book called Amyntor, or a Defence of Milton's Life, which
relates to the Writings of the Primitive Fathers, and, the Canon of the
New Testament_. In 1701 he published _A Paraphrase upon the Gospel of St
Matthew_, which was followed, in 1702, by the _Paraphrases upon the
Gospels of St Mark and St Luke_, and soon afterwards by a third volume
upon St John. They were subsequently printed together in two volumes and
have since passed through several editions. He intended to treat in the
same manner the remaining books of the New Testament, but his design was
unfulfilled.

Meanwhile he had been presented by Bishop Moore to the rectory of
Drayton, near Norwich. As Boyle lecturer, he dealt in 1704 with the
_Being and Attributes of God_, and in 1705 with the _Evidences of
Natural and Revealed Religion_. These lectures, first printed
separately, were afterwards published together under the title of _A
Discourse concerning the Being and Attributes of God, the Obligations of
Natural Religion, and the Truth and Certainty of the Christian
Revelation, in opposition to Hobbes, Spinoza, the author of the Oracles
of Reason, and other Deniers of Natural and Revealed Religion_.

In 1706 he wrote a refutation of Dr Henry Dodwell's views on the
immortality of the soul, and this drew him into controversy with Anthony
Collins. He also wrote at this time a translation of Newton's _Optics_,
for which the author presented him with L500. In the same year through
the influence of Bishop Moore, he obtained the rectory of St Benet's,
Paul's Wharf, London. Soon afterwards Queen Anne appointed him one of
her chaplains in ordinary, and in 1709 presented him to the rectory of
St James's, Westminster. He then took the degree of doctor in divinity,
defending as his thesis the