Replies.
ALEXANDER CLARK.
(Vol. viii., p. 18.)
In communicating a few particulars about Alexander Clark, I must disappoint your correspondent Perthensis; my subject answering in no respect to Peter Buchan's "drucken dominie," the author of the Buttery College. Alexander Clark, who has fallen in my way, belongs to the class of "amiable enthusiasts;" a character I am somewhat fond of, believing that in any pursuit a dash of the latter quality is essential to success.
Clark was by profession a gardener; and as my friends in the north always seek to localise their worthies, I venture to assign him to Annandale. My first acquaintance with him arose from his
Emblematical Representation falling into my hands; and, pursuing my inquiries, I found this was but one of some half-dozen visionary works from the same pen. In his View of the Glory of the Messiah's Kingdom, we have the origin of his taking upon himself the prophetic character; it is entitled:
"A Brief Account of an Extraordinary Revelation, and other Things Remarkable, in the Course of God's Dealings with Alexander Clark, Gardener at Dumcrief, near Moffat, Anandale, in the Year 1749."
"In the month of August, 1749," says he, "at a certain time when the Lord was pleased to chastise me greatly in a bed of affliction, and in the midst of my great trial, it pleased the Almighty God wonderfully to surprise me with a glorious light round about me; and looking up, I saw straight before me a glorious building in the air, as bright and clear as the sun: it was so vastly great, so amiable to behold, so full of majesty and glory, that it filled my heart with wonder and admiration. The place where this sight appeared to me was just over the city of Edinburgh; at the same instant I heard, as it were, the musick bells of the said city ring for joy."
From this period, Clark's character became tinged with that enthusiasm which ended in his belief that he was inspired; and that in publishing his—
"Signs of the Times: showing by many infallible Testimonies and Proofs out of the Holy Scripture, that an extraordinary Change is at Hand, even at the very Door,"—