

PAKKER, SAMUEL. 



PAKMENIDES. 



1544; dean of Liucola, 1552. In 1545 be wu vice-chancellor of hit 

 university. 



He took a wife in 1547. One of the measures of the reign of Queen 

 Mary, by which it was hoped to re-establish the Church iu iu former 

 Utc and order, wu to deprive the married clergy of all their 

 benefice* and preferments. This removed from tho Church at one 

 stroke no small number of the more zealous reforming divines. It is 

 marvellous that Parker tared no worse in tho reign of Mary. It does 

 not appear that he even found it necessary to leave England, but 

 rather that he continued to lire quietly in the eastern counties, pur- 

 suing hi* theological studies. Very soon after the death of Mary, 

 and when Elizabeth had acen led the throne, he was summoned 

 from his retirement, and induced to accept at once the high dignity 

 of archbishop of Canterbury. His consecration took place on Decem- 

 ber 17, 1559. 



lie was archbishop more than fifteen years, during which time he 

 was astiduoualy employed in watching over the interests of the new- 

 formed Church, and in giving it that consistency and order which the 

 Church of England has since maintained. We cannot enter into the 

 detail of what ho did, but we must not forbear to mention that the 

 preparation of the great work called the Bishops' Bible was perform ,1 

 under his auspices, and that the work was completed in 15CS. Who- 

 ever wishes for more information respecting the labours of this 

 eminent father of the English Protestant Church, and the minute par- 

 ticulars of his history and character, may be abundantly satis fie I by 

 consulting the folio Life of him written by the indefatigable Strype. 

 He died in 1575. 



Parker is not to be estimated solely by what he did as an ecclesiastic. 

 He collected a large library of valuable manuscripts, which he gave to 

 his college in Cambridge, where he founded also divers fellowships and 

 scholarships. The manuscripts still remain, having been very care- 

 fully preserved. There is a minute and excellent catalogue of them in 

 print by Numith, who made also a catalogue of the manuscripts in 

 the Public Library at Cambridge, which has never been printed. 

 Parker gave encouragement to Saxon literature by the publication of a 

 Saxon homily. 1 1 e caused to be printed also tho ' Chronicles of Matthew 

 of Westminster and Matthew Paris;' and there is an original treatise, 

 'De Autiquitate Britannicse Ecclesio:,' which is usually attributed to 

 him, and in the preparation of which he had no doubt much concern. 



1'AKKKK, SAMUEL, a prelate of the English Church, was burn at 

 Northampton in September 1640. Ho was of Puritan extraction, and 

 was remarked for certain Puritan extravagances, when, as a young 

 man, he entered Wadham College, Oxford. But at Oxford he became 

 acquainted with several persons of a very different turn of mind, and 

 particularly with Dr. Ralph Bathurst, who is said by the writers of 

 his 'Life' to have been chiefly instrumental in drawing him away from 

 a party which was marked for persecution and extinction. He bad an 

 active pen, which he employed about the time of the Itestoration, and 

 for a few succeeding years, in repeated attacks on the Puritan, or, as it 

 then was become, the Non-conforming party. The controversy is almost 

 forgotten, and we think it needless to recount the titles of hia tracts. 

 One of his writing*, a Discourse in Vindication of Bishop Bramhall, 

 callrd forth the ' Rehearsal Transprosed' of Andrew Marvcll in which 

 Parker was very severely handled, and to which he replied in 'A 

 Reproof to the Rehearsal Trannprosed,' but Marvell's wit was too much 

 for him, and in everything he subsequently wrote, be showed how 

 keenly ho felt the castigation. 



He was favoured and promoted in the Church. In 1667 he was 

 made chaplain to Archbishop Sheldon, in 1670 he became archdeacon, 

 and in 1672 a prebendary of Canterbury, and had the livings of 

 Ickham and Cbartham. 



When King James 1L contemplated the re-union of England to the 

 general Church, with its head in the Itoman pontiff, he looked among 

 the English divines for persona who might be willing to assist in his 

 designs, and, amongst other persons, bo fixed upon Parker, who was 

 made by him Bishop of Oxford, in January 1686 ; and when Hough 

 was deprived of the presidentship of Magdalen College, it was given to 

 Parker. It is said that be was strongly inclined to popery : but how 

 far he would have gone with the king in that direction, cannot well be 

 folly determined, as his life was cut short soon after he bad obtained 

 this dignity. He died at Magdalen College, on May 20, 1687. 



The only writing of Bishop Parker of any permanent reputation in 

 a treatise entitled ' De Rebus sui Temporis Comnientariua,' but it is 

 dUSgured by his party virulence, is in no respect trustworthy, and to us 

 mml extremely dull This treatise was not published till 1726, when 

 it was given to the world by bis son, a second Samuel Parker, an 

 eminent non-juring divine. A translation of it by the licv. Thomas 

 Newlin was published in 1727. 



PAKKllURST, .loHN, was tho second son of John Parkhunit, Esq., 

 of Catctby, in Northamptonshire. lie was born in June 1728, and 

 educated at Rugby Grammar School, and afterwards at Clare Hall, 

 Cambridge, where be took the degree of B.A. in 1748, and tint of M.A. 

 in 17'-. He wu for some yean a fellow of bis college. He took 

 orders in the Church of England, but never obtained any preferment, 

 having succeeded to a considerable estate, ^bich rendered him in !.- 

 |>eu<li.|it, He acted, without receiving any salary, as curate of the 

 church at Catesby, the preferment of which was in bis own gift. In 

 1754 he married Susanna Myster, daughter of John Myster, Esq., of 



Epsom in Surrey. She died in 1759, leaving him a daughter and 

 two sons. In 1761 he married Milliceut Northoy, by whom he had a 

 daughter, Mr*. Thomas, who became eminent for her learning : she 

 wrote her father's epitaph in Epsom church. 



Porkhurst died at Epsom on the 21st of March 1797. He wu a 

 man of great integrity and firmness of character. He always In .-! in 

 retirement, though be possessed qualities which fitted him to shine in 

 society. In spite of a weak constitution he wai a most laborious 

 student, rising for many yean at five o'clock in the morning. 



His first work was ' A Serious and Friendly Address to the Rev. 

 John Wesley,' 1753, remonstrating against the doctrine of the faith of 

 assurance as held by that divine. In 1762 he published the first 

 edition of his ' Hebrew and English Lexicon, without Points' with .-i 

 Hebrew grammar, which has passed through several editions. Hi* 

 ' Greek and English Lexicon to the New Testament,' with a Greek 

 grammar, appeared in 1769. Of this work there are several edition*, 

 both in quarto and octavo : the first of the octavo editions was edited 

 by his daughter, Mrs. .Thomas. A new edition, by the Rev. 

 James Rose, B.D., was published in 1S29. The only other work pub- 

 lished by Mr. Purkhurat was ' Tho Divinity and 1're-cxistence of our 

 Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ demonstrated from Scripture, in answer 

 to tho First Section of Dr. Priestley's Introduction to the History of 

 Early Opinions concerning Jesus Christ,' 8vo, London, 1787. Dr. 

 Priestley replied to this work in ' A Letter to Dr. Home.' 



Parkhurst's lexicons, though now superseded, enjoyed a considerable 

 reputation from the time of their first appearance. They are however 

 disfigured by many fanciful and ridiculous etymologies, and they bear 

 traces of the Hutcbinsouian opinions of their author. 



PARME'XIDES (nop/WSrji), the second in the series of the 1 

 philosophers, via a native of Elf a. Ho was descended from a noble 

 family, and is said tt> have been induced to study philosophy by 

 Ameinias. (Diog. Laert, ix. 21.) He is also stated to have r. 

 instruction from Diochmtes the Pythagorean, to whom ho erect il an 

 heroum. Later writers inform us that he heard Xeuophanes, the 

 founder of the Eleatic school ; but Aristotle (' Met,' i. 5) speaks of it 

 with some doubt. We read that ParinemMcs gave a code of laws to 

 his native city, which was so huhly esteemed that at first the ci 

 took an oath every year to observe it. (Diog. Lasrt, ix. 23 ; Plut, 

 'Adv. Colot.,' S2; Strabo, vi., p. 252, Casaub.) 



The time when Parmenides lived has been much disputed. According 

 to Plato (' Parmenid.,' p. 127), Parmenides, at the ge of sixty-five, 

 accompanied by Zeno, at the age of forty, visited Athens during tho 

 ta\;it 1'anathensca, and stopped at the house of Pythodonn. As this 

 visit to Athens probably occurred about B.C. 451 (Clinton, ' Fast. Hell.,' 

 p. 364), Parmenides would have been born about B.C. 519. But to 

 this date two objections are urged : first, that Diogenes Laeitiua (ix. 

 23) says that Parmeuidos flourished in the 69th Olympiad, that is, 

 about B.C. 5U3 ; and consequently, if he was bom H.c. 519, he would 

 only have been about sixteen in the 69th Olympiad ; and secondly. 

 that Socrates is stated by Plato, in his dialogue entitled ' Parmeuidcs,' 

 to have conversed with Parmenides and Zeno on the doctrine of ideas, 

 which we can hardly suppose to have been the case, as Socrates at 

 that time was only thirteen or fourteen. Atheuious (xi., p. 505) 

 accordingly has censured Plato for saying that such a dialogue ever 

 took place. But in reply to these objections it may be remarked, first, 

 that little reliance can bo placed upon the vague statement of such a 

 careless writer as Diogenes ; and, secondly, that though tho dialogue 

 which Plato represents Socrates to have had with Parmenides and 

 Zeuo is doubtless fictitious, yet it was founded on a fact that Socrates, 

 when a boy had heard Parmenides at Athena. Plato mentions, both 

 in the ' Theajtetus ' (p. 183) and the ' Sophistes ' (p. 127), that Socrates 

 was very young when he beard Parmenides. 



We have no other particulars respecting the life of Parmenides. He 

 taught Empedocles and Zeuo, and with the latter be lived on the 

 most intimate terms. (Plat, ' 1'arm.,' 127.) He is always spoken of 

 by tho ancient writers with the greatest respect. In tho ' Thetetetus ' 

 (p. 183), Plato compares him with Homer; and iu the 'Sophistes' 

 (p. 237), he calls him "the Great." (Compare Aristot, 'Met,' i. 6.) 



Parmenides wrote a poem, which is usually cited by the title ' Of 

 Nature 'n/>l Quotas (Sext Empir., 'Adv. Mathem.,' vii. Ill ; Theo- 

 phrastu-i, ' Ap. Diog. Laert.,' viii. 55), but which also bore other titles. 

 Suidu ('Parmeuid. ) calls it *uato\oyla; and odds, on the authority of 

 Plato, that he also wrote works in prose. The passage of Plato 

 (Soph./ p. 237) however, to which Suidas refers, perhaps only means 

 on oral exposition of his system, which interpretation is rendered 

 more probable by the fact that Sextus Empiricus ('Adv. Mathem.,' 

 vii. Ill) and Diogenes Lacrtiun (i. 16) expressly state that Paruieui<li- 

 only wrote one work. Several fragments of this work, ' On Nature,' 

 have come down to us, principally in the writings of Sextus Empiricus 

 and .Simplicius. They were first published by Stcphauus in his 

 Poesis Philosophica' (Par., 1573), and next by Kulleborn, with a 

 translation iu verse, Zuliichau, IT'.'J. Brandin, in his 'Commentationea 

 Kleaticso,' Altona, 1816, also published the fragments of Parinenides, 

 together with those of Xenophanes and Melissos ; but the most recent 

 and most complete edition is by Kurstcn, in the second volume of lii 

 ' Pnilosophorum Gnccorutn veterum, pricsertim qui ante I'latoueui 

 florueruut, Opi rum Ueliquia:,' Unix., 1835. 



The fragments of his work which have come down to us arc sufficient 



