Parson Jonas
Clarke :
The destination of Paul Revere ’ s midnight ride was the home of Parson Jonas Clarke , pastor of the Church of Christ of Lexington and host to John Hancock and Samuel Adams . Parson Clarke was a firebrand preacher who loved the words of St . Paul : “ Where the Spirit of the Lord is , there is freedom .” 1
The night Paul Revere arrived at Parson Clarke ’ s home , Hancock and Adams asked him if the men of Lexington would fight . Parson Clarke replied , “ I have trained them for this very hour ; they would fight and , if need be , die , too , under the shadow of the house of God .” 2
At sunrise on April 19 , 1775 , when British soldiers entered Lexington , they were met by militiamen and villagers , almost all of them parishioners of Jonas Clarke . After the battle , Clarke tended to the dying and wounded , saying through tears , “ From this day will be dated the liberty of the world .” 3
Shoot Only in Self-Defense Reverend Jonas Clarke was ordained as a pastor of the Church of Christ in 1755 , three years after his graduation from Harvard College . He married Lucy Bowes , a cousin
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