Parsons, David, D.D., a Congregational minister, was born .Ian. 'IS, 1749, at Amherst, JIass. He gradu- ated at Harvard College in 1771, entered the ministry
in 1775, and was ordained pastor in Amherst, Oct. 2, 1782, and resigned Sept. 1, 1819. He felt much interes-.; in the cause of education, and gave land for the site of an academy which has since become Amherst College. Parsons died May 18, 1823. He published several of his Sermons (1788, 1795, et al.). See Sprague, Annals of the A me?: Puljnt, ii, 120.
Parsons, Henry M., an American Presbyterian minister, was born at Glen's Falls, N. Y., July 27, 1813. He received a careful training from his parents; gradu- ated at Williams College, Mass., in 1835 ; studied theol- ogy under Hugh N. Wilson, D.D., at Southampton, N. Y. ; was licensed and ordained Oct. 8, 1847, pastor over ■ the Moriches Church, Long Island. Soon his health began to fail him, and at the earnest solicitation of his people he tried a southern climate ; he spent a winter in Cuba, where he served as a chaplain for the seamen at Havana; but after two years' absence he returned and labored another year with his people on Long Island. His health was still poor, and thinking that an inland climate would help him, in 1852 he accepted a call from Warrior Run Church, Pa., where he continued to labor for two years. At length he gave up preaching and travelled for his health, but died Aug. 10, 1859. Mr. Parsons was the author of Christ in the Desert. His mind was well-balanced, his descriptive powers ex- cellent; and his letters from abroad bear evidence of nice discrimination and clearness of perception. See Wilson, Fresh. IJist. Almanac, 18C1, p. 104. (J. L. S.)
Parsons, Jonathan, an American Presbyterian minister, was born at West Springfield, Mass., Nov. 30, 1705. He was educated at Yale College, class of 1729. As a student at New Haven he gave many indications of uncommon genius. Soon after graduation Parsons began to preach. He was ordained minister in 1731 of Lyme, Conn., where he continued until 1745. The last thirty years of his life were spent at Newburj^port, in one of the largest congregations in America. His labors were incessant, and he sometimes sank under his exertions. During his last sickness he enjoj^ed the peace of a Christian. He expressed his unwavering assurance of an interest in the favor of God through the Redeemer. He died July 19, 1776, at Newburyport. As a preacher he was eminently useful. During some of the first years of his ministry his style was remark- ably correct and elegant ; but after a course of years, when his attention was occupied by things of greater importance, his manner of writing was less polished, thougli perhaps it lost nothing of its pathos and energy. In his preaching he dwelt much and with earnestness upon the doctrines of grace, knowing it to be the de- sign of the Christian religion to humble the pride of man and to exalt the grace of God. His invention was fruitful, his imagination rich, his voice clear and com- manding, varj'ing with every varying passion, now for- cible, majestic, terrifying, and now soft and persuasive and melting. He was eminent as a scholar, for he was familiar with the classics, and he was skilled in the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages. He was ac- counted a dexterous and masterly reasoner. He pub- lished at Boston, Letters in the Christian History (1741) : — a Lecture (1742): — Lectures on Justification (1748): Good News from a Far Country, in seven Discourses (1756): — Observations, etc. (1757): — Manna Gathered in the Mornimj (17G1) : — Infant Baptism from Heaven, in two Discoui'ses (1765) : — .4 Sermon on the Death ofG. Whitfield (1770) : — Letters on Baptism (1770) : — Free- dom from Civil and Ecclesiastical Tyranny the Purchase of Christ (1774) : — Sixty Sermons on various Subjects (1780, 2 vols. 8vo). See Searl's Sermon preached at the funeral obseejuies ; Allen, .4 mer. Bioyr. Dictionary, s. v. ; Sprague, Animls of the A mer. Pulpit, iii, 47-52; Amer. Qu. Reg. xiv, 109. (J. H. W.)
Parsons, Joseph (1), a Congregational minister, flourished in the early jiart of last century. He was born about 1671, and was educated at Harvard College,
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where he graduated in 1697. He then Studied theolog_v, and became minister of Lebanon, Conn., in 1700. In 1708 he accepted a call to Salisbury, and there died in 1740. lie published an Ordination Sei'mon (1733).
Parsons, Joseph (2), also a Congregational min- ister, was born about 1703, and was educated at Har- vard College, where he graduated in 1720. He studied theolog}', and became pastor at Bradford, Mass., where lie died in 17G5, in the thirty-ninth year of his ministry'. He pubhshed three occasional ISermons (1741, 1744, and 1759).
Parsons, Joseph (3), a divine of the Church of England, flourished near the middle of last centurv as minister of Stanton Harcourt and South Leigh, Oxford. He published. Fast Sei-nwn (1760, 4to) : — Thirty Lect- ures on the Principles of the Christian Religion (1761, 8vo): — Apolofpj for the Church of England (1767, 4to).
Parsons, Levi, a Congregational minister, who was employed also in missionary labors, was born July 18, 1792, in Goshen, Mass. He graduated at Middlebury College in 1814 ; was ordained Sept. 3, 1817, and labored under the Vermont Missionary Society a year, when he was sent on an agenc}' into Palestine by the American Board. He sailed with Kev. P. Fisk for Smyrna Nov. 3, 1819, and arrived Jan. 15, 1820, whence they went to the island of Scio, and in November Mr. Parsons started for Palestine, reaching Jerusalem Feb. 12, 1821, where he remained until May 8. After suffering severe illness on the island of Sj'ra, he reached Smyrna Dec. 3, and sailed to Alexandria, where he died, Feb. 11, 1822. Mr. Par- sons was a good scholar, and very amiable and interesting in his manners. His life was thoroughly devoted to be- nevolent work. His biography was written bj' his broth- er-in-law, D. V. Morton (1824). See also Amer. Miss. Mem. p. 263 ; Sprague, A nnals of the A mer. Pulpit, ii, 644 ; Wilson, Presh. Hist. A Imanac, 1866, p. 221 ; Chris- tian Monthly tSpectator, vii, 316.