(m 
PARKER. 
excellence.” He was naturally of a warm temper; but, as “one of the mod: precious young men in the univer- 
till his head was turned by his exaltation, he exhibited fity.” In 1659-50, he was admitted to the degree of 
no inftances of haughtinefs and ill nature. He was to B. A. Upon the reftoration of king Charles II. he hefi- 
the 1 alt hofpitable and charitable; and did many kind tated for a time what fide to take, but (till continued 
and benevolent things to private people, as well as for the freely to talk againft epifcopacy; on which account, being 
public benefit. The regulation of his family was ex- difcountenanced by Dr. Blandford, the new warden of 
tremely laudable : he afligned all his domeftics fome em- Wadham-college, he withdrew from thatboufe, and be- 
ployment or other, and kept no idle people about him : came a member of Trinity-college. In this fociety, by 
thofe who were not occupied in learned purfuits, about the converfation and arguments of Dr. Ralph B.ithurft, 
the management of his revenues, or the affairs of his then fenior fellow, he was prevailed upon to renounce 
houfehold, were varioufly employed ; fome in binding his puritanical opinions, and to become a zealous mem- 
books, others in engraving, painting, tranfcribing ma- ber of the church of England. He now loft no oppor- 
nufcripts in fine hand-writing, drawing, or illumina- tunity of ingratiating himfelf with his new friends, and 
ting. of affording proofs of the fincerity of iiis converfion, by 
Archbifhop Parker was much attached to the ftudy of oppofing the principles, and by endeavouring to exercife 
Britifh and Saxon antiquities; and be fpared neither la¬ 
bour nor expenfe in collecting and preferving whatever 
manufcripts of this kind could any where be met with, 
of which a fatal havock and deftruCtion had been made 
at the time of the diffolution of the monafteries. Mr. 
Strype fays, that one of his agents, in the fpace of no 
more than four years, procured for him not fewer than 
fix thoufand feven hundred volumes. In 1563, he was 
the inftrument of preferving two volumes of collections 
in folio, made by archbifhop Cranmer. All tbefe valuable 
MSS. befides a confiderable number of printed books, he 
depofited in a library which he built for Corpus-Chriftl 
college in Cambridge. To him literature is indebted for 
editions of four of our ancient Englifii liiftorians; namely, 
Matthew' 6 Weftminfter, Matthew Paris, Thomas Wal- 
fingham, and Affer’s Life of King Alfred, all in folio. 
He alfo publifhed, befides the articles which have already 
been noticed by us, “ a Teftimony of Antiquity, fhewing 
the ancient Faith of the Church of England, touching 
the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of the Lord, here 
publicly preached, and alfo received, in the Saxons’ 
Time, about feven hundred Years ago,” 1566, 8vo. being 
a Sermon tranflated out of Latin into Saxon, by ASlfric 
abbot of St. Alban’s, about the year 996, and appointed 
to be delivered to the people at Ealler, before they fliould 
receive the communion. This piece was accompanied 
with two Letters of Aslfric, which were brought forward 
to afford additional proof that the doCtrine of the real 
prefence was not then admitted by the church. Another 
confiderable work of the archbifhop contains the lives of 
bis predecefTors in the fee of Canterbury, and is entitled, 
“ De Antiquitate Britannicse Ecclefise, et Privilegiis Ec- 
clefiae, et Privilegiis Ecclefise Cantuarenfis, cum Archie- 
pifcopis ejufdem LXX.” 157a, folio. Moft of the copies 
of this work want the account of Parker’s own life, he 
having caufed it to be fupprefl’ed while he lived ; on which 
account Mr. Strype has inferted it in the appendix to his 
Life of our prelate. The materials for this performance 
were collected from ancient liiftorians, by John Jofceline, 
fecretary or chaplain to our prelate, who was himfelf 
the digefter and compiler of it. The beft edition of it 
was publifhed at London, in 1729, folio, illuftrated with 
excellent engravings. Strype's Life of Parker. Neal's 
Hijt. Purit. vol. i. Warner's Eccl. Hijl. vol. ii. 
PAR'KER (Samuel), an Englifii prelate, notorious for 
his temporizing ferviie fpirit, and the fcandalous facrifice 
of his principles, was the fon of John Parker, a ferjeant 
at law under the protectorate of Oliver, and alfo after the 
reftoration ; and born at Northampton in the year 1640. 
He was educated in grammar-learning among the Puri¬ 
tans at his native place; whence he was fent, in 1656, to 
the univerfity of Oxford, where he was entered of Wad- 
liam-college, and placed under a prefbyterian tutor. 
Here lie is faid to have led a very ftrift and religious life, 
and became a member of a fociety of young ftudents who 
met weekly to fait and pray together, and were diftin- 
guifhed by the name of .Gruellers, from their making 
water-gruel their principal diet. So conftant was lie in 
his attendance upon prayers, fermons, and facraments, 
in the meetings of the puritan party, that they efteemed him 
his wit at the expenfe, of the party which he had quitted. 
In 1636, he took the degree of M. A. Soon afterwardshe 
entered into holy orders; and, reforting frequently to 
London, became chaplain to a nobleman, whom he was 
accuftomed to divert by his drolleries and reflections on 
his old friends the puritans. In 1665, he wms eleCted a 
fellow of the Royal Society ; and about the fame time he 
publifhed fome phyfico-theological effays, entitled, “ Ten- 
tamina phyfico-theologica de Deo ; five Theologia Scho- 
laftica, ad Normam novse et reformats Philofopliiae con- 
cinnata,” 4to. Thefe effays were attacked in a piece, 
entitled, “ of the Bulk and Selvedge of the World, by 
N. Fairfax, M. D.” and they were feverely criticifed by 
the celebrated Andrew Marvel, in his “ Rehearfal tranf- 
profed,” who calls them, “a tedious tranfcript of our 
author’s common-place-book, wherein there is very little 
of his own, but the arrogance and unparrnlleled cenfo- 
rioufnefs that he exercifes over all other writers.” In 
1666, Mr. Parker publifhed, “ A free and impartial Cen- 
fure of the Platonic Philofophy,” 4to, in a letter written 
to a friend ; which was loon followed by a fecond letter, 
containing “ An Account of the Nature and Extent of 
the divine Dominion and Goodnefs, efpecialiy as they 
refer to the Origenian Hypothefls concerning the Pre-ex- 
iftence of Souls, &c.” 4to. Thefe pieces were written in 
defence of fome paffages in his Effays; and the Jaft of them 
called forth the animad verfions of the author of an excel¬ 
lent trad, entitled, “ Dens Jujlificatus; or, the divine 
Goodnefs vindicated and cleared, againft the Affertors 
of abfolute and incondifionate Reprobation.” 
The dedication of the author’s Tentamina to Dr. 
Sheldon, archbifhop of Canterbury, proved the means of 
introducing him to that prelate, who w\as fo well pleafed 
with him,-that, in 1667, lie appointed him one of his 
own chaplains. Having now the road to preferment 
opened to him, he quitted Oxford, and went to re fide at 
Lambeth ; where his attention to his patron w\as rewarded, 
1670, by bis nomination to the archdeaconry of Canter¬ 
bury. In the fame year, having been appointed one of 
the attendants on William prince of Orange, when he 
paid a vifit to the univerfity of Cambridge, our author 
was honoured on that cccafion with the degree of D. D. 
Dr. Parker’s next promotion was to a prebendal flail in 
the cathedral church of Canterbury, which w-as conferred 
upon him in 1672 ; and not long afterwards he was col¬ 
lated by the archbifhop to the rectories of Ickhanj and 
Chartham in Kent. 
He had now been engaged between two and three years 
in controverfy with different writers, which was com¬ 
menced by a piece of liis containing fevere reflexions 
upon the prefbyterians and other nonconformifts, and 
entitled, “a Difcourfe of Ecclefiaftical Polity, wherein 
the Authority of the civil Magiftrate over the Conlcien.ces 
of Subjects in Matters of external Religion is aflerted;” 
1669, 8vo. The principal antagonifts whom he provoked 
to enter the 1 ills by this publication, were Dr. John Owen, 
and Andrew Marvell. In 1678, Dr. Parker publifhed 
“ Difputationes de Deo et Providentia Divina ; an Philo- 
foplior.uni ulli, et quinam, Athei fuerint?” See. which 
Dr. Henry More highly commends. His next publication 
4 appeared 
