was simply a deist; but they who say this must take into account the strong sweep of his personal aspiration, the weight of his convictions, his devotion to humanity, the enormous volume of his feelings. There is no deist whom he even remotely resembled. Lord Herbert of Cherbury, Shaftesbury, Bolingbroke, Hobbes, Hume, suggest oppositions only. Parker affirmed and denied merely in order to make his affirmation more clear. He was a great believer, less a thinker than a doer. His bulky resources were so much fuel to his flame. His sympathies were all modern; he looked constantly forward, and was prevented only by his plain, common sense from accepting every scheme of his generation that wore a hopeful aspect. But he saw the weak points in reforms that he himself aided. He criticised women while working for their elevation, and laughed at negroes while toiling against their bondage. He was not æsthetic, and had no taste in painting, sculpture, music, poetry, or the delicacies of literature. He knew about them as he knew about everything, but his power was moral and religious, and it was inseparable from his temperament, which was human and practical on the side of social experiment. He bequeathed his library of 13,000 volumes to the Boston public library. He was a prolific author, publishing books, pamphlets, sermons, essays without number, but never with a literary, always with a philanthropic, intention. His publications include “Miscellaneous Writings” (Boston, 1843); “Sermons of Theism, Atheism, and Popular Theology” (1852); “Occasional Sermons and Speeches” (2 vols., 1852); “Additional Speeches and Addresses” (2 vols., 1855); “Trial of Theodore Parker for the ‘Misdemeanor’ of a Speech in Faneuil Hall against Kidnapping,” a defence that he had prepared to deliver in case he should be tried for his part in the Anthony Burns case (1855); and “Experience as a Minister.” His “Discourse of Matters pertaining to Religion” (1842) still presents the best example of his theological method; his “Ten Sermons on Religion” (1853) the best summary of results. His complete works were edited by Frances Power Cobbe (14 vols., London, 1863-71); (10 vols., Boston, 1870). A volume of “Prayers” was issued in 1862, and one entitled “Historic Americans” in 1870. It included discourses on Franklin, Washington, Adams, and Jefferson. “Lessons from the World of Matter and the World of Man,” selected from notes of his unpublished sermons, by Rufus Leighton, was edited by Frances P. Cobbe (London, 1865). See also “Théodore Parker sa vie et ses œuvres,” by Albert Réville (Paris, 1865). On the death of Mrs. Parker in 1880, Franklin B. Sanborn was made literary executor, and he, it is said, intends to issue some new material. Mr. Parker's life has been presented several times; most comprehensively by John Weiss (2 vols., New York, 1864), and by Octavius B. Frothingham (Boston, 1874). Studies of him have been made in French and English. There is a fragment of autobiography and innumerable references to him as the founder of a new school in theology. There are busts of Parker by William W. Story and Robert Hart.
PARKER, Thomas, clergyman, b. in Wiltshire,
England, 8 June, 1595; d. in Newbury, Mass., 24
April, 1677. His father, Robert, was an eminent
Puritan divine, who was exiled for his religious
opinions. Thomas, who was a student at Oxford
at that time, joined him in Holland, and was graduated
at the University of Leyden in 1614. He
subsequently returned to England, taught in Newbury
for a time, and in 1634 sailed for New England
with his relatives, James and Nicholas Noyes (q. v.),
with whom he founded the town of Newbury,
Mass., was installed its first pastor, and continued
in that charge until his death, “the beauty, holiness,
charity, and humbleness of his life,” says
Cotton Mather, “giving his people a perpetual and most
lively commentary on his doctrine.” With James
Noyes he also prepared students for Harvard,
refusing all compensation for his services. During
his pastorate a bitter controversy on the subject of
church government divided his parish. During his
later life he was totally blind, but could teach the
languages with ease from memory. A contemporary
writer says: “On one occasion certain clergymen,
who were dissatisfied with his opinions, came
to reason with him. They addressed him in
English, he replied in Latin; they followed him in
Latin, he responded in Greek; they managed a
reply; he then spoke Arabic, whither they durst not
go.” The river on whose banks he first landed is
named in his honor. He published “A Letter on
Church Government” (1644); “The Prophecies of
Daniel Expounded” (1646); and “Methodus Gratis
Divinte” (1657), all extremely rare.
PARKER, Thomas, soldier, b. in Frederick
county, Va., in 1753; d. there, 24 Jan., 1820. He
was captain of a volunteer company during the
Revolution, participating with his command in
several battles, was lieutenant-colonel of infantry
in 1799, and in 1800 was mustered out of service.
He was appointed colonel of the 12th infantry in
1812, commissioned brigadier-general in March,
1813, and resigned in November of the next year.
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PARKER, Willard, surgeon, b. in Hillsborough, N. H., 2 Sept., 1800; d. in New York city, 25 April, 1884. His ancestors emigrated to Massachusetts in 1640 and settled in Chelmsford, to which place his father returned when Willard was five years old. He taught in the district schools to obtain means to enter Harvard, where he was graduated in 1826. He then opened a school in Charlestown with the intention of studying for the ministry, but subsequently decided to adopt the profession of medicine, became the private pupil of Dr. John C. Warren, attended medical lectures in Boston, and took his degree at Harvard in 1830. The year before he had been appointed lecturer on anatomy in the Vermont medical college, and immediately after his graduation he became professor of the same branch in Berkshire medical college, Pittsfield, Mass. Three years later he accepted the chair of surgery there, which he held till 1836, when he removed to Cincinnati, Ohio, to become professor of surgery in the medical college of that city. He spent several months in Europe in 1837, and in 1839 settled in New York city, with the appointment of professor of surgery in the College of physicians and surgeons, which he held for thirty years, subsequently accepting the chair of clinical surgery, which he resigned a few months before his death. During the next ten years he established a large and lucrative practice, and took the highest
