Memoirs of the Rev. Samuel Parr
Ch XVI. 1816-1820
Samuel Parr to Abraham Rees, [February 1821 c.]
“Dear and excellent Dr.
Rees,—The sympathies of friendship are rather invigorated, than
enfeebled in my mind, by old age. I shall always reflect with pleasure and with
pride, that I had
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the honour of ranking such an enlightened man as
Dr. Rees among my friends. I received your letter,
with more than usual interest; for it recalled to me many scenes of rational
delight, which are to return no more. We have lost Dr. Lindsay; but the remembrance of his talents, attainments,
upright principles, and generous spirit, will glow in your bosom, and my own,
till we sink into the grave. Dr. Rees, I am sure that no
personal partialities have influenced my judgment, in my estimation of the
sermons which you gave to Mrs. Parr. I
have preached more than half of them. They guide me, and they animate me, as a
preacher. They satisfy me as a critic. They strongly resemble the sermons of
Jortin; and they impress me with no
painful feeling of inferiority, when they have been interrupted by his
discourses, and those of Clarke,
Bishop Pearce, and Sherlock. I wish you were an eye-witness of
the ardour which they inspire, when I deliver them from the pulpit. Joyfully
and thankfully shall I receive the two additional volumes; and you may be
assured that I shall unreservedly tell you my opinion of their merits.—Why do
you abandon your purpose of going to Leamington; where the baths and the
waters, as you know experimentally, are favourable to your health? At our
advanced time of life, procrastination is very dangerous. Come to your old
apartment at Copp’s, Do not forget how much your
lively conversation, your good manners, your good sense, and your good nature
cheered young and old, male and female, churchmen and non-cons, when you were
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at the head of the table.—I suppose you will not be a
gazer at the coronation. Have you seen Glover’s to our famous polemic, Bishop
Marsh? Pray read it. Upon public affairs, you and I have the
same fears, and the same indignation.—With great sincerity I subscribe myself
your friend and respectful obedient servant,
Samuel Clarke (1675-1729)
English theologian and Newtonian philosopher whose
Scripture Doctrine
of the Trinity (1714) provoked the charge of Arianism.
George Glover (1778 c.-1862)
The son of George Glover; educated at Manchester School and Brasenose College, Oxford, he
was rector of South Repps, Norfolk (1804-62).
John Jortin (1698-1770)
English divine, philologist, and critic; he published
Remarks on
Spenser (1734); his essays were collected as
Tracts,
Theological, Critical and Miscellaneous (1790).
James Lindsay (d. 1821)
Born in Aberdeen; in 1782 he succeeded James Fordyce as pastor of the Presbyterian church
at Monkwell-street in London.
Mary Parr [née Eyre] (1765-1848)
The daughter of John Eyre of Coventry and sister of the Solihull schoolmaster John Eyre;
in 1816 she became the second wife of Samuel Parr.
Zachary Pearce, bishop of Rochester (1690-1774)
Educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge, he was rector of St
Martin-in-the-Fields (1824), bishop of Bangor (1748), and bishop of Rochester
(1756).
Abraham Rees (1743-1825)
Presbyterian minister, tutor at New College, Hackney, and editor of
The
New Cyclopaedia, or, Universal Dictionary of the Arts and Sciences
(1802-1820).
