Parker, Thomas

Parker, Thomas a noted Puritan divine, was son of Robert Parker, and was born June 8, 1595. He studied some time at Oxford, and in Ireland under Dr. Usher, receiving his degree of M.A. while at Leyden in 1617. He taught and preached for some time in Newbury, England. He came to New England in May, 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 Prophecies of Daniel Expounded (London, 1646, 4to): — Methodus Gratiae Divinae (1657): — and Theses de Traductione Peccatoris ad Vitam, with some works of Dr. Ames. See Brooks, Lives of the Puritans, vol. iii; Mather, Magnalia; Sprague, Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, 1:41 sq.