Bessie Clarksone

Bessie Clarksone (1584–1625) was a Scottish exemplar of godly life whose growing faith was recorded by her minister after her death.[1]

Bessie Clarksone
Born1584
Lanark
Died1625
Lanark
NationalityKingdom of Scotland

Life

Clarksone was possibly born in Lanark in 1584[2] and certainly died there in 1625.[1] She is known because of the conversations that she had with her minister William Livingstone. He published a book after her death recording the dialogue between himself and Clarksone for three and a half years prior to her death.[2]

The book aims to present her eventual recognition of her faith although critics have noted that it appears to focus more on the intercessions of the minister (and author). The book claims to be a revised edition, but only one edition appears to have ever existed. The book is one of several published but a reviewer has felt that this is the most unconvincing book. Livingstone did not witness her death and had to rely on others to record her "victorious faith" as she "raised her eyes to heaven".[2]

Clarksone died in Lanark in 1625, and the book by her minister was published in 1630.[3] Only one copy of the book now exists and it is held in the British Library.[2]

References
  1. "Clarksone, Bessie (d. 1625), exemplar of godly life | Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/46898. Retrieved 28 October 2019. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. Lamb, Mary Ellen (5 December 2016). Brief Confessional Writings: Grey, Stubbes, Livingstone, Clarksone: Printed Writings 1500–1640: Series I, Part Two. Routledge. ISBN 9781351954792.
  3. Lanark.), William LIVINGSTONE (Minister of (1630). The Conflict in Conscience of a Deare Christian, Named Bessie Clarksone, in the Parish of Lanark, which Shee Lay Under Three Yeare and an Half. With the Conference that Past Betwixt Her Pastor and Her at Diverse Times. [By W.L., I.e. William Livingstone] ... Newly Corrected, Etc.
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