I experience a profound regret in having to send this book to press without an extended biography of Jacob Clark. He was for some time intimately associated with the Rev. J. B. Logan--I believe as coeditor of the Cumberland Presbyterian, when it was first published in St. Louis; and I had set my heart on having a sketch of his life prepared by Mr. Logan. But his numerous and pressing engagements utterly forbade the undertaking. I was not apprised that my expectation in that direction could not be realized till it was too late for me to attempt to procure the necessary data in order to prepare the sketch myself. I did not know enough of Mr. Clark to authorize me to speak from personal knowledge. He lived and died in a section of the State several hundred miles distant from myself; and, indeed, I don't remember to have seen him but once, and then I was quite a boy.
But his reputation as an able and devoted minister of the gospel is the property of the Church, and so far as that will afford us data from which to speak, we are in possession of the very best authority. A preacher is always so closely scrutinized that it is not often that one acquires a public reputation for goodness to which he is not entitled. A wicked world, the jealousies of men, the weakness of human nature, all contribute to prevent the firm establishment of Christian character; so that when such a character is built up in spite of all these drawbacks, we may be well satisfied that it stands upon a good foundation. In reference to Mr. Clark, we find this the fact. In all the Churches where he was best known-in the mouths of preachers and people-he stands above reproach in all the relations of life. His abilities as a preacher placed him in the front rank of his profession in all South-east Missouri. I suppose it is no injustice to any one to assign him this position.
Mr. Clark was long the loving friend and co-laborer of the Rev. F. M. Braley, of the St. Louis Presbytery. Long years of association and mutual appreciation knit their hearts together in the firmest bonds. Mr. Braley preceded his friend to the better land by several years, and Mr. Clark performed the grateful service of writing the biography of his friend. These sketches of Mr. Braley were printed in the Cumberland Presbyterian, when it was first published in St. Louis, extending through forty numbers of the paper. As a writer, Mr. Clark exhibited many good qualities for a biographer. His style is clear, simple, and forcible. The only unfavorable criticism I would make upon his work would be that there is too much attention to details of matters which lose their interest after the actors therein have passed away; and this fault is not confined to Mr. Clark, by any means.
It will be seen that I do not pretend to offer any sketch of the life of Mr. Clark, and write this merely as an apology for not doing it. His appropriate place in these Memoirs would be alongside of his life-long friend, F. M. Braley. No collection of the names and works of the early preachers in this State would be complete without that of Jacob Clark. He was one of the representative men of the St. Louis Presbytery and of South-east Missouri. Besides his eminent abilities as a preacher, he was a man of pure and gentle spirit, loveable and loving, throwing out a decided, yet kindly, influence all around him. When Braley and Clark both fell, it created a void in that Presbytery which has never been filled up. If their mantles have fallen anywhere, the fact has not yet become patent. The battered armor, in which a thousand battles were fought for Christ and his cause, has been laid aside, and the royal robes, prepared for heavenly guests, have been substituted in their place.
The author takes pleasure in appending the following brief note from the Rev. J. B. Logan. It was prepared and forwarded to him after the foregoing pages were written and sent to the printer:
To Hon. R.C. Ewing:
Dear Sir:-I wish I could respond to your call more satisfactorily than I shall be able to do, under the pressure of my numerous and onerous duties. I would like to be able to pay a fitting tribute to the memory of my dearly-beloved brother, Jacob Clark. It was my privilege to be intimately connected with him for several years after I came to St. Louis to live and labor. He was for a short period connected with me in the editorial department of the Missouri Cumberland Presbyterian, and when in the city he was a constant inmate of my home. I can truly say of him that in all the relations of human life-as father, husband, neighbor, citizen, business-man, and minister of the gospel-I never heard aught but in his praise. He came the nearest up to my idea of a perfect Christian gentleman of any man I ever knew.
He grew up in this country when it was little else than a wilderness, naturally and morally. With but few helps besides those bestowed by nature and the grace of God, he became one of the most intelligent, eloquent, and successful ministers in this entire country. He certainly was the most popular preacher of any denomination within the bounds of St. Louis Presbytery, outside of the city; and I do not know that I need make any exception. He was firmly and warmly attached to his own denomination, yet beloved by all Christian people. He could command, without doubt, a larger audience to hear him preach, where he was known, than any other public speaker in the land.
In his person he was tall, and of portly frame and gentlemanly bearing, with a keen, penetrating eye, pleasant voice, and perfect articulation. His pronunciation of words was critically accurate. In his general demeanor he always exhibited the character of a meek and humble Christian.
I shall long remember the last interview I had with him. He left my house, where he had been on a little visit, shortly before his death, and my recollection is that he took sick on his way home, and died on the way.
His death was universally lamented by all who knew him. A merchant of this city (St. Louis) remarked to me, after his death, that Jacob Clark was the only man he ever knew that could trade all the week and then meet the people, with whom he had done business (he was a merchant as well as a preacher), on Sunday, and speak to them with the most perfect success.
His word and honor inspired absolute confidence among all the people where he was known. It was the practice among the customers of his business-house to take his word, without questioning or doubt, in relation to all business matters that transpired between them and him.
I know but little of his early life, farther than that his family were entirely respectable, yet wholly unable to afford him any material assistance in his preparation for the pursuits of life. He was thrown upon his own resources at an early period, and fought the battle of life all alone, yet with so much energy and courage as to win high success in whatever he undertook.
He professed religion and entered the ministry at an early period of his life. He pursued his education with so much ardor and diligence as to bring himself well up to the standard of literary qualification required by the Confession of Faith. All this he achieved with but little aid from schools or teachers; so that he was, emphatically, a self-make man.
He left a widow and four children, who are probably still at the old homestead in Franklin county.
It was my privilege to preach his funeral at his former residence, some time after his death. The weather was exceedingly unfavorable, the rain falling in torrents nearly all day; yet so great was the esteem in which he was held by his neighbors, that they came to his funeral for many miles around, and in such numbers that the house could not contain them. His death was marked by a wonderful display of divine grace. He was attending a sacramental meeting at a place between his home and this city, and on Saturday he was violently attacked with the disease which finally carried him off. On Sabbath, however, he could not be content to remain in the house, but had his friends to take him to the church in a wagon, and at the communion-table addressed the people with peculiar tenderness and affection, and was carried away from the church to the house of a friend, where he sank rapidly, and soon expired. His wife and children and a numerous throng of sorrowing friends hung around his dying-couch in the last extreme moment of his mortal existence. Thus went our beloved brother from the communion-table below to the great marriage-supper of the Lamb on high. Peace to his ashes, till the resurrection morn!
I cannot do any thing like justice to his memory; but if this short letter, written in the midst of pressing duties, is worth any thing to you, it is at your service. J. B. Logan.
St. Louis, Mo., Jan. 26, 1874.
[Source: pp. 378-384 of Historical Memoirs: Containing A Brief History of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Missouri, and Biographical Sketches of a Number of Those Ministers who Contributed to the Organization and the Establishment of that Church, In the Country West of the Mississippi River. By Judge R. C. Ewing. Nashville, Tenn.: Cumberland Presbyterian Board of Publication, 41 Union Street, 1874.]