! addition to the duties of his parish, his public labors ' were ver^- numerous. He lectured before lyceunis all ! through New England and many other Northern states, to the amount of eighty or one hundred times in a j'ear; was present at and addressed many kinds of meetings for the promotion of temperance, antislavery, ! education, the rights of women, etc. i Though often in feeble health, Theodore Parker i seldom allowed physical languor to intermit his work. j He knew nothing of the necessity of sleep, exercise, I or recreation. He grew up thoughtless of the simplest conditions of physical health. For more than ten years before his death he manifested symptoms that caused great anxiety to every one but himself. But it was not till the beginning of 1859 that he was com- pelled to relinquish his pulpit, and seek for the im- provement of his health in another climate. On Feb- ruary 3 he sailed for Santa Cruz, where he remained until the middle of May, when he took passage from St. Thomas for Southampton. His stay in Switzer- land and Italj' was to no purpose. The fatal moment did not long delaj' to strike. After suffering intense- ly from the capricious climate, and still more from the spiritual atmosphere of Rome, he found a wel- I come resting-place in the beautiful Florence, where f in the midst of flowers, which he loved so well, he j died Ma}- 10, 1800. He had often expressed a de- I sire in earlier life that, like Goethe and Channing, i he might not be deterred from labor bj"^ the prospect j of immediate death. Shortl}' before his decease he ! addressed to his congregation in Boston a letter con- taining his experience of the fourteen years' pastorate j at the Melodeon. He now rests in the little cemetery t outside the walls of Florence ; his tombstone, at his own request, simply recording his name and the dates of his birth and death.
See, besides the preface to his works, his Life by Weiss (IJost. 18G4, 2 vols. 8vo), and b}' Frothingham (1874); A Discourse occasioned hy the Death of Theo- dore Parker, delivered by P.W. Perfitt in South Place Chapel, Finsbury, on Sunday evening, May 27, 1860 (18C0) ; The lute Theodore Parker, a discourse delivered in South Place Chapel, Finsbury, on Sundaj' morning, June 3, 18G0, by Henry N. Barnett, published by re- quest (1860) ; Three Discourses delivered on the Occasion of the Death of Theodore Parker, by the Rev. Messrs. Warren, Ncwhall, and Haven (N. Y. 1860) ; Hurst, His- tory of Rutionalism, p. 564 sq. ; Farrar, Critical His- tory of Free Thought, p. 323 sq. ; Methodist Qu. Rev. April -Oct. 1873; July, 18.59, p. 433; Brit, and For. Fv. Rev. Oct. 1857, art. viii ; Loud. Qu. Rev. vol. iii, art. i. (J.H.W.)
Parker, Thomas, a noted Puritan divine, was son of Robert Parker, and was born June 8, 1595. He stud- ied some time at Oxford, and in Ireland under Dr. Usher, receiving his degree of M.A. while at Lej'den in 1617. He taught and preached for some time in New- bur}-, England. He came to New England in INIay, 1634 ; was co-pastor with Mr. Ward, of Ipswich, about a year; and then began the settlement of Newbury, Mass., and became the first minister of the Church in that place. A bitter controversy on Church government, lasting for years, unhappily divided his Church. He died April 24, 1677. He was eminent for learning and piety. He published a Letter to a member of the Westminster Assembly on Church government (1644): — The Proph- ecies of LJaniel Frpounded (London, 1646, 4to) : — Me- thodus Gratice Divinm (1657) : — and Theses de Traducti- one Peccato7-is ad Vitam, with some works of Dr. Ames. Sec Brooks, Lives of the Puritans, vol. iii ; Mather, Mar/nalia ; Sprague, Annals of the Amer. I^ulpit, i, 41 scp
Parker, William, D.D., F.R.S., an eminent Eng- lish divine, was born near the opening of the 18th cen- tury. He was educated at Baliol College, Oxford (M.A. 1738; B.D. 1751 ; D.D. 1754). After entering the min-
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istry he became rector of Little Ilford, Essex; vicar of St. Catharine Cree, London ; and rector of St. James's, Westminster. He died in 1802. Dr. Parker published The Nature and Reasonableness of the Inwai'd Cull and Outward Mission to the holij Ministry considered (ordi- nation sermon), and other sermons, of which a list is given by Darling, Cyclop. Bihliugr. ii, 22 sq.
Parker, William H., a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, was born in Virginia in 1799. His parents, who were Presbyterians, removed to Ohio while he was still a boy. In that new and stirring population he developed into an active and industrious man. jMany of his neighbors sent their produce every autumn to New Orleans in tlat-boats. The love of ex- citement and a curiosity to see that serai-tropical region, and the hope of bettering his fortune, induced him to go frequenth' to that distant city, and he became so familiar with the river-bed that he was finally em- ployed as a pilot ; after a time he learned the trade of a cooper, and for many years, both in Ohio and Ken- tucky, carried on the business. He was fully grown to maturity before he became religious. But when he heard the Methodist doctrine of free grace he was drawn to- wards the cross. So anxious was he to know the plan of salvation, that even while engaged at his trade he always kept such books as Wesley's Notes and Clarke's Commentaries on his bench, that he might glean some grains of knowledge while for a moment at any time he stopped to rest his body. After joining the Church he soon became class-leader, then local preacher; and as such he was ordained deacon at Maysville in 1854, and in 1859 recommended to the Kentucky Conference. He was admitted, and, having tilled his probation, was ad- mitted into full connection in 18(51. As a preacher he was studious, faithful, and full of zeal; as a pastor he was diligent. Wliile on the New Columbus Cir- cuit, where he labored assiduously, both in the pulpit and I'rom house to house, he was stricken down. Dur- ing his sickness he was patient in suffering, but grieved that he could not be at work. Though he suffered much in body, his soul seemed filled with the love of God. He died May 28, 1871. See Minutes of Annual Conferences of the Meth. Epis. Church, South, 1871, p. 592.