RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Parker Pasagians
J. H. Allen, in American Church History Series, x. 210-
214, New York, 1894.
PARKHURST, CHARLES HENRY: Presbyterian; b. at Framingham, Mass., Apr. 17, 1842. He was educated at Amherst College (A.B., 1866); was principal of the high school in the same town in 1867-69; studied theology at the University of Halle in 1869-70. He was then professor in Williston Seminary, Easthampton, Mass. (1870-71), after which he completed his theological studies at the University of Leipsic (1S72-73); was pastor of the Congregational Church at Lenox, Mass. (1874-80), and has been pastor of the Madison Square Presbyterian Church, New York City, since 1880. While serving as president of the Society for the Prevention of Crime (1891-1907), he manifested much activity, securing at one time not a little notoriety on account of his methods of securing evidence. He has written Forms of the Latin Verb Illustrated by the Sanskrit (Boston, 1870); What would the World be without Religion? (New York, 1882) ; The Blind Man's Creed, and other Sermons (1883); The Pattern in the Mount (1885); The Question of the Hour (1887); The Swiss Guide (1890); Three Gates on a Side (1891); Our Fight with Tammany (1895); Talks to Young Men (1897) ; Talks to Young Women (1897); The Sunny Side of Christianity (1901); and Little Lower than the Angels (1908).
PARMENIANUS. See Donatism, §§ 3-4.
PAROUSIA. See Millennium, Millenaeianism.
PARSONS (PERSONS), ROBERT: English Jesuit; b. at Nether Stowey, near Bridgwater (30 m. s.w. of Bristol), Somersetshire, June 24, 1546; d. at Rome Apr. 15, 1610. He studied at St. Mary's Hall and Balliol College, Oxford (B.A. and fellow, 1568; M.A., 1572), and became tutor and dean. In 1574 he left Oxford, and began the study of medicine at Padua, but in July, 1575, joined the Jesuits at Rome, having embraced the Roman Catholic religion at Louvain while on his way to Padua, and was ordained priest, 1578. In 1580 and 1581 he was in England, making converts and printing much on a surreptitious press. When his associate, Edmund Campion (q.v.), was arrested Parsons escaped into Normandy (autumn, 1581). Thenceforth he was a persistent and unscrupulous plotter for the overthrow of the Protestant dynasty in England and the reestablishment of the papal supremacy there. From 1588 till 1597 he was in Spain and Portugal and at Valladolid, Seville, San Lucar, and Madrid established colleges for the training of missionaries to be sent into England. He also founded the English college at St. Omer (about 20 m. s.e. of Calais). From 1597 till his death he was rector of the English College at Rome. Parsons was an earnest and able man and an indefatigable worker. He wrote clear and vigorous English and had special skill as a controversialist. During his later years relations between him and other Roman Catholics were not always harmonious. He was hasty and self-willed, a victim of strong prejudices, and his statements of fact can not always be trusted. Of Parsons' numerous writings the more noteworthy were A Brief Discourse containing Cer-
tain Reasons why Catholics Refuse to Go to Church, published under the name of John Howlet (Douai [London], 1580); The First Book of the Christian Exercise Appertaining to Resolution ([Rouen], 1582), enlarged with the title, A Christian Directory Guiding Men to their Salvation ([London], 1585; often reprinted; modernized and Protestantized by George Stanhope, dean of Canterbury, London, 1700); A Conference about the Next Succession to the Crown of England, under the name of R. Doleman ([St. Omer], 1594), which argued for the right of a people to change the succession for religious reasons and suggested the Infanta of Spain as the fit successor to Elizabeth. The book was approved by Allen and others, but raised a storm of indignation in England and was denounced by Roman Catholics there; A Treatise of Three Conversions of England from Paganism to Christian Religion, under the name of N. Doleman ([St. Omer?], 1603), an answer to Foxe's Acts and Monuments. Bibliography: Sources are: H. More, Hist, provincice Anglicans, St. Omer, 1660; D. Bartoli, Bell' Istoria delta Compagnia di Giesu Vlnghilterra, Rome, 1667; A. a Wood, Athena Oxonienses, ed. P Bliss, ii. 63-79, 4 vols., London, 1813-20. Two worthy sketches are: J. Gillow, Bibliographical Dictionary of English Catholics, v. 273- 287, London, n.d. (full on his works); DNB, xliii. 411- 418 (detailed). Consult further: R. Simpson, Edmund Campion, London, 1867; Letters and Memorials of William Cardinal Allen, ib. 1882; T. G. Law, Historical Sketch of the Conflicts between Jesuits and Seculars, ib. 1889; W. H. Frere, The English Church (1668-1625), pp. 216 sqq., ib. 1904.