The earliest, and, if the present writer might venture to give his opinion, he would almost venture to add, the best of Dr. Parr’s publications, were two sermons, which appeared in 1780. They were printed together, though the subjects are not connected. They are rather argumentative than declamatory. The style is clear, rich, and nervous; often ornamented, and sometimes rising into a high strain of fervid and impressive eloquence. Whilst, however, it displays the excellencies, it discovers also the faults of Dr. Parr’s composition; especially in the want of variety, and in the excessive use of antithesis.
Of these two discourses, the former, from Gal. iv. 4.—preached in the cathedral at Norwich, on Christmas-day, 1779—offers a full and forcible reply to the objection urged against Christianity, founded on the three following circumstances—its late appearance, its partial propagation, and its imperfect efficacy. The questions bearing on these several points are clearly stated; the argument is closely and ably conducted; and the conclusions are, in every instance, fairly drawn and powerfully enforced.
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The discourse opens with some general observations, chiefly taken from Butler’s Analogy; tending to show that the partial dispensation of Christianity is a circumstance, exactly accordant to the unequal distribution of good and evil throughout the whole system of creation; and that it is, therefore, no more an objection to the truth of revelation in the one case, than it is to the doctrine of providence in the other.
Proceeding from general remarks to the more particular examination of the objections proposed, the preacher first considers that which is pointed against the late publication of Christianity. The objection would, indeed, be unanswerable upon the supposition, that this revelation is necessary to the salvation of those to whom it is not made known. But a supposition so strange and so revolting, the preacher is too wise and too pious for a moment to admit. “We do not say,” he observes, “for we are neither required nor authorised to say, that Christianity is indispensably necessary to the salvation of those to whom it is not communicated. They will assuredly be judged according to the use of one talent, to whom it was not the will of God to intrust more.”
Respecting man’s inability to judge of the time, or the degree, in which it may become the Supreme Being to interpose, either for the prevention or the removal of evil, it is observed:
“Why evil exists?—from what fountain it springs?—and through what
channels it is conveyed? are questions, about which we are more forward to inquire,
than able to decide. Yet, surely,
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To show that, according to our best conceptions, there could not well have been a fitter time, than the time actually chosen for the first introduction of Christianity, the preacher takes a slight review of the state of the Jewish and Heathen nations; and, having supported his position by a variety of just and important considerations, he proceeds to the second objection, drawn from the circumstance of partial propagation. Here, he begins with observing, that both this and the former objection presuppose the excellence of the Christian scheme; for, if it be not calculated to correct the morals, and to promote the happiness of mankind, why should we be offended either that it was not more early published, or is not more widely disseminated?
The common way of stating the question respecting the partial distribution of Christian blessings is objected to. “It should not be asked—will God be kind to you, and unkind to another?—but, will he be more kind to you, than he has been to another?”1 To the objection thus brought forward, it is answered:—
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1 Even this way of speaking seems liable to objection. There may be the same kind intention, and the same desire to promote happiness, both in granting and in withholding |
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“Has not the Deity made a difference between brutes and men? yet he is the wise Creator and Preserver of both. Has he not bestowed upon men the external materials of earthly good, and the internal capacity of using them in different degrees? yet he is the just Governor of all. If, then, intending some of his moral agents for less felicity in another life, he leave them to reason; and, at the same time, confer the aids of revelation upon those who are intended for greater felicity, he is still the righteous Judge of all. And shall our eye be evil, because the eye of our Maker is good?”
In reply to the third objection, taken from the imperfect efficacy of Christianity, it is observed:
“The premises admit that Christianity has been useful, in some degree; the conclusion affirms, that it ought to be rejected, because not so in the highest degree. Apply the same mode of reasoning to other cases. Civilisation has not reached its utmost perfection; and, therefore, we ought to return in haste to a state of barbarism. He that can leap from such premises to such a conclusion, has no right to complain of credulity in his opponents.”
The positive good effects of Christianity are
certain advantages, under different circumstances. Why should not the question be stated thus? “May not the Supreme Disposer, without any impeachment of his wisdom and goodness, place some of his creatures higher, and others lower, in the scale of being? and in like manner, may he not grant to some of his creatures, of the same order, more advantages, to others less?” |
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The following passage is quoted to show how early the mind of Dr. Parr was impressed with just and noble sentiments on that most important subject—toleration.
“That spirit must finally give new dignity and new stability to the cause of truth, as it fosters the freedom of inquiry; as it tempers the zeal which darkens knowledge; as it stimulates the industry which acquires it; and, above all, as it enlarges the sphere of charity—that celestial virtue which, in religious concerns, where it claims the pre-eminence, has been too long crampt and depressed, and of which every solitary instance, in times less enlightened, was lamented as a weakness, or condemned as a crime.”
The whole subject is summed up and concluded, with great force and great animation, in the following passages:—
“Though God had for many ages delayed the appearance of his Son,
he, in the fulness of time, came forth. Though many obstacles have, in our
apprehension, impeded the cause of revelation, it has spread itself over no
inconsiderable part of the world. Though a variety of causes have ob-
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The other sermon, from Heb. xiii. 16, preached at St. Peter’s
Mancroft, in behalf of the Norwich Charity Schools, on Good Friday, 1780, is a full and
masterly discussion of the question—whether knowledge should be communicated in any
consi-
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With what sarcastic severity, at the outset of his discourse, does he meet the opposers of public instruction, in the following passage!—
“From what source do their objections rise? Do they spring from
real pity to the poor, whom knowledge is said to quicken to a more poignant sense of
their misery? or, from real concern for the welfare of the community? which, as some
men affirm, is always injured, when the poor presume to feel their wants, and to exert
the means of relieving them. No! they rather proceed from the vanity of some, who
affect to startle at the difficulties which elude common observation; from the
hypocrisy of others, who would disguise their own insensibility to the sufferings of
individuals, under the mask of solicitude for the public welfare; and from the selfish
pride of more, who wickedly resist every liberal plan of improvement for their infe-
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It may perhaps be thought difficult for its friends to decide to what extent popular education should be carried? On this point the preacher thus judiciously delivers his opinion:
“That degree of knowledge is far too little, we may say with confidence, when the poor are left in a state of profound ignorance concerning their civil rights, their social and religious duties, and their best interests both in this world and the next. It is too great, when their minds are swollen with insolence and vanity; when their curiosity is sent out upon the wing in quest of the very sublime or the very ornamental parts of learning; when their attention steals away from the occupations on which they depend for their livelihood, and is squandered upon points of trifling and unprofitable amusement. But from evils, so remotely consequential, so faintly probable, experience leaves us little to dread.”
The wisdom of communicating even political knowledge to the lower classes is thus maintained:
“Be the abilities of men naturally strong or weak, they are pushed
on, by a kind of mechanical impulse, to form some judgment upon public questions, which
yet they do not understand in their fullest extent. Unless, therefore, a decision,
built upon scanty information be inferior to that which is built upon none, the
assistance of education is not employed in vain, where it enables the poor to acquire
some few materials for knowledge, and to arrange them with some little degree of ex-
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How just from any man! how generous from a learned man!—the following sentiments:—
“For my part, I have too much respect for the collective happiness of the human species, to wish for a monopoly of knowledge, in any one profession, or in any one rank of men. So anxious is my concern for the poor, that I would not, without the most urgent necessity, expose them even to the possibility of suffering in their faith, in their morals, and in their rights, from the artifices of men, who, if they did not mean to abuse knowledge, would hardly wish to engross it.”
With one extract more, on the necessity and importance of religious instruction, the account of this admirable discourse must close:—
“That religion, in which the young man should be educated, is in all
respects accommodated to his situation in life. The doctrines of it will preserve him from
the extravagances of fanaticism, and the terrors of superstition, to which the poor are
particularly exposed. The precepts of it tend to convert that churlishness of disposition,
so frequently imputed to the lower orders, into an instrument of every sterner virtue—of
perseverance in labour, of
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This first discourse on education was followed, in 1782, by a second and a still larger discourse on the same subject, which contains remarks on the best modes of instruction, with a view chiefly to the lower orders; but applicable, in a considerable degree, to the case of all. It is a discourse of no common excellence; and, if it cannot be said that the author has advanced much that is absolutely new, yet it must be acknowledged that he has pursued his subject into all its various ramifications, and entered into all its practical details, with great acuteness and great accuracy. Its undue length, as a pulpit-oration, cannot be urged as an objection to the perusal of it by the reader at his own leisure.
The discourse, of which the text is, Prov. xxii. 6, opens with some remarks on proverbial writings, in general, and on the Proverbs of Solomon in particular. They are just and ingenious; and the only objection to them is, that they are not necessary to the subject; and that they lengthen a discourse, which would be too long without them.
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After having noticed and reprobated the opinions of Rousseau and Mandeville, who both assert, though for different reasons, that education is more injurious than beneficial; the preacher proposes the following division of his subject; 1st, The efficacy of education; 2d, The general objects of it; 3d, The particular case of charity schools.
Under the first head, among other important remarks, occur the following, in which it is easy to trace the principles of philosophical necessity, guiding and influencing the views of the writer:
“When persons have been trained up in a constant and sincere regard to their religious and social duties, sensibility in time anticipates the suggestions of reason, and passion faintly resists the dictate of conscience; the general course of life is almost mechanically exact; our best volitions are formed without anxious deliberations; and our best deeds are performed without painful effort.”
The following reflections, on the seeming inefficacy, but real advantage, of early education, are excellent:
“The good seed, though oppressed, is not totally destroyed. The blossoms are partially nipped, but the soundness of the soil yet remains. Even the first approaches, which persons virtuously educated, make to guilt, are attended with a shame and a compunction, to which men of gross ignorance are utterly callous; and when the heat of youth has, in some measure, spent itself, Reason gradually resumes her seat; and Religion, in a voice which cannot but be heard, reasserts her violated rights.”
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The general advantages of education are admirably summed up in the following passage, in which the classical reader will recognise an imitation of a well-known and much-admired sentence of Cicero:1
“To our boyhood, wise and virtuous education gives that sweet simplicity and innocence, which melts every serious beholder into affection, and relieves even the savage heart with a momentary feeling of honest approbation. In our youth, it inspires us with such a fine sense of decorum, as makes us shrink from folly with scorn, and from vice with loathing; and it animates us, at the same time, with that unwearied activity of mind, which struggles with every difficulty, and triumphs over every danger. Our manhood it distinguishes by that firmness and dignity of thinking, which exalts us from one degree of excellence to another; which causes us to start at the smallest deviation from moral rectitude, and impels us to recover from the shock, by the instantaneous and determined exertion of our whole strength. To old age, which is itself the fruit of a well-spent life, it gives a serenity of mind, which the world can neither bestow, nor take away—a deep and sincere love of virtue, which finds a pure and perpetual source of pleasure in the effects it has wrought on the tempers and manners of our friends and our children—a comfortable remembrance of habitual well-doing, which alone can endear to us the days that are passed, and will return no more, or enable us to
1 Hæc studia adolescentiam alunt, &c.—Cic. Orat. pro Archia Poetæ. |
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Treating, under the second head, of the great objects of moral education, the preacher insists earnestly on the importance of inculcating the government of the passions—the sense of shame—the love of truth—habits of diligence—and a filial reverence of the Deity. On all these topics, many wise reflections are offered, to guide the judgment, and many useful rules are proposed, to direct the practice.
In stating, under the third head, his particular remarks, applicable to
charity-schools, Dr. Parr again appears as the
enlightened and zealous advocate of popular education; and recapitulates and urges anew
many of the arguments, which he had before advanced in its favour. He maintains, by strong
reasoning, clothed in forcible language, the importance of charity-schools in general, and
bestows great praise upon those of Norwich in particular; in which some wise and
well-considered plans seem to have been adopted, and vigorously and successfully pursued.
Towards the close of his discourse, he enters, rather fully, into the consideration of
female education, as it respects more especially the lower classes in the social order.
Here he displays the same enlarged and enlightened views, as in every other part of his
great subject; and warmly applauds the extended plans of mental and moral cultivation,
which are adapted to a more improved state of human society, and which cannot fail, in
their happy results, to give greater usefulness and consequence to the female charac-
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The following is the solemn and dignified conclusion of the whole discourse:
“It remains for me to address you with the solemnity of a preacher,
who is speaking in the presence of his God, upon measures of which that God approves, and
with the earnestness of a fellow-creature, whose face upon any similar occasion you will
hereafter see no more. I therefore appeal to your humanity, this last time, for the sake of
those innocent children, who now stand before you; and I make that appeal in the name of
Jesus Christ, who died to save both you and them. I exhort you,
upon every principle of social utility and religious obligation, not to be weary in
well-doing. I pour forth my unfeigned thanks to Almighty God for the charitable
disposition, with which he has hitherto inspired you, and for the numerous benefits, which
have already resulted from your pious endeavours. I conclude with my fervent prayer, that
these children may never depart from the way, in which they should go; and that their
successors, who in future ages shall be trained up by the followers of your venerable
example, may ever continue in habits of diligence in their callings, of peace and sobriety
in their families, and of gratitude to their benefactors; or, to speak in other and better
words, that they may live in a state of constant preparation for the tribunal of that
Being, who once appeared upon earth, “to preach his gospel to the poor;”
and who will assuredly exalt
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To the second discourse on education a considerable number of notes is added, learned, elegant, and admirably adapted to the purposes of pleasing or useful illustration, for which they are intended.
A fourth sermon, published at Norwich, still remains to be noticed. It is entitled “A Discourse on the late Fast, by Phileleutheros Norfolciensis,” 1781. Of this, which the author himself pronounced to be his best composition, the present writer regrets that he has not been able to procure a sight. The whole impression, consisting of 450 copies, was sold within two months after its first appearance; and it is now a work of extraordinary rarity. On the writer’s application to the executors of Dr. Parr’s will, for permission to peruse their copy, it was instantly and kindly granted by Dr. J. Johnstone; but it was afterwards refused by his co-executor, the Rev. John Lines, rector of Elmley Lovett. To that refusal—in which it may be thought hard to discover the liberality of the scholar, or the courtesy of the gentleman—the reader of these pages must impute whatever disappointment he may feel in receiving, instead of a more full account, the following concise report from the Monthly Review:1
“This is by far the most masterly discourse, which has been published, on the late occasion. A vein of deep philosophical reasoning and political
1 Vol. lxv. p. 319. O. S. |
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“The chief design of this discourse is, to correct false and delusive opinions respecting the nature and extent of divine judgments; to prove that government is the medium through which the Deity conveys punishment to a wicked and reward to a righteous people; and that between the misfortunes and the demerits of a nation there is always an intimate connexion, yea, ultimately, an exact proportion.”1
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1 “‘Bishop Beadon’s Sermon before the Lords, 1793.’ I suspect that before writing this sermon he had been busy with ‘Phileleutheros Norfolciensis.’ S. P.”—Bibl. Parr. p. 573. |
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