514 MATTHEW PARKER, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY.* [1504—1575.] THE complete establishment of the Protestant religion in England supplies materials for a most interesting portion of ecclesiastical history. One of the principal instruments in accomplishing this important achievement was Matthew Parker, the son of a reputable citizen of Norwich, in which city he was born in the year 1504. His father died, while he was still young; but having directed by his will, that he should be devoted to the church, his mother sent him at a proper age to Bene't College, Cambridge; where his lively genius, improved by assiduous application, speedily established his reputation as a scholar. In 1527, he entered into priest's orders, took the degree of M. A., and was chosen fellow of his college. At this time, a flattering testimony was borne to his abilities by Cardinal Wolsey, who offered him one of the first fellowships in his * AUTHORITIES. Strype's Life of Parker, Neale's History of the Puritans, Warner's Ecclesiastical History of England, Sir James Ware's History of the Bishops of Ireland, and Stow's Chronicle. new seminary at Oxford; but, by the persuasion of his friends, he declined the invitation. In 1533, his fame as a preacher reached the ear of Cranmer; who finding upon inquiry that his opinions favoured the Reformation, sent him a special licence to preach in his diocese, and recommended him to the notice of Henry VIII. The same year, his Majesty invited him to court; and the Queen (Anne Boleyn) delighted with a sermon preached before her, in which he avowed the principles of the Reformed Churches abroad, appointed him one of her chaplains, reposed in him the greatest confidence, and upon her fatal reverse of fortune gave him her private injunctions respecting the Princess Elizabeth, whose education she particularly wished to be entrusted to his hands. Thus was laid the basis of that Princess' attachment to her spiritual guardian. Parker's first benefice was the Deanery of the College of Stoke in Suffolk, which Henry bestowed upon him through the Queen's solicitations in 1534, Here he laboured to reform the Popish institutions, which were practised in the college; drawing up new statutes for that purpose, and founding likewise a grammar-school for the gratuitous instruction of the children of the poor in sound learning and religion. From this time, to the death of his royal patroness, we meet with nothing remarkable concerning him, except an allegation, that in his sermons at St. Paul's Cross he exposed too freely the errors of the Romish church:' against which he defended himself with such success, that he was directed by the Chancellor Audley to persevere, regardless alike of menace and of accusation, in so good a cause. On the fall of Anne Boleyn, Parker was made one of the royal chaplains: and, throughout the remainder of Henry's reign, continued rising both in the University of Cambridge, and in the church. The degree of D. D. was conferred upon him in 1588. In 1541, he was installed Prebendary in the cathedral of Ely; and, in the following year, presented by the chapter of Stoke to the rectory of Ashen in Essex. This he resigned in 1544: upon which, he was presented to that of Birlingham All Saints in his native county of Norfolk. In the same year, he was elected Master of his College; and in 1545, he filled the Vice-Chancellorship, and was presented by his society to the rectory of Landbeach in Cambridgeshire. He had indulged a tender affection for a young lady, of the family of Harslestone in Norfolk, and a tender intercourse had been carried on between them for several years: but the Six Bloody Articles, one of which forbade the marriages of the clergy, being enforced about that period with uncommon rigour, their union was delayed till the statute was repealed on the accession of Edward VI From the sequel it appears that the Papists, his avowed enemies, always kept their eye upon this event.* During the short reign of Edward, he chiefly dis tinguished himself as a zealous preacher in support of the Protestant doctrines; and under Kett the tanner of Norwich, he rendered himself still farther obnoxious to his adversaries, by the share which he took in the suppression of the insurgents. For, as one of their countrymen, he with great intrepidity 6 * With this lady's behaviour Bishop Ridley, on a visit to her husband, was so much delighted, that he inquired, Whether she had a sister like herself?" intimating probably, that he should have been happy to secure such a prize. entered the rebel lines, and from the Oak of Refor mation persuaded them to submit to the King, and to return to their families and occupations. This produced such an effect, that many dispersed; and their army, thinned of it's numbers, became an easy conquest to the royal forces under the Earl of Warwick. This eminent service, however, was performed at the peril of his life; for some of the leaders, aware of the probable consequences of his sermon, would have sacrificed him on the spot; had not a large party, more correctly estimating his friendly admonitions, conducted him safely out of the camp. In 1551, he was included in a commission for correcting and punishing Anabaptists; under which term were probably comprehended, not only persons who rejected infant-baptism, but Arians, Pelagians, and others who administered the sacrament in a manner different from that prescribed by the established Liturgy. About the same period, likewise, he preached at Cambridge a funeral sermon on the death of his friend Bucer, Regius Professor of Divinity in that University. In 1552, he was presented by his youthful Sovereign to a prebend of Lincoln, and a few days afterward to the deanery of the same church. Thus during the reigns of Henry VIII., and Edward VI., he lived honoured and wealthy; and happy in the esteem of some of his most illustrious contemporaries, Tremellius, Cromwell Earl of Essex, Archbishop Cranmer, Ridley, Latimer, Mr. Nicholas Bacon, Sir John Cheke, and Sir William Cecil. Queen Mary however no sooner ascended the throne, than his inveterate enemies adducing against him the crime of his marriage, he was deprived of all his preferments, and with his wife and two sons reduced to the necessity of living in the greatest obscurity, to escape falling into their hands. A part of this precarious leisure he employed in turning the Psalms into English verse, and drawing up a Defence of the Marriage of Priests. At length, on the accession of Elizabeth, he was summoned from his retreat to new additions of dignity and affluence. The Queen, embracing the earliest opportunity of rewarding him for his services and his sufferings in the Protestant cause, nominated him to fill the archiepiscopal see of Canterbury, vacant by the death of Cardinal Pole. But Parker, far from being elated by this distinguished mark of royal approbation, requested through the Lord Keeper Bacon permission to decline the acceptance of it; alleging, among other excuses, his bodily in, firmities, particularly a hurt received by a fall from his horse, when flying by night from his late persecutors. In consequence of a contusion received on his breast upon that occasion, preaching (he stated) had become extremely painful to him, and therefore in his own opinion he was disqualified for the most essential duties of the offered station.' But the Queen persisting in her choice, he was consecrated at Lambeth in 1559;* and it was quickly perceived, 6 By Barlow, late Bishop of Bath and Wells (then elect of Chichester); Scory, late Bishop of Chichester (then elect of Hereford); Coverdale, Bishop of Exeter, and Hodgkin suffragan Bishop of Bedford. This circumstance, of which there is the clearest evidence, affords a complete refutation of the malignant calumny propagated some years afterward, that Parker was consecrated at the Nag's Head Inn, or Tavern, in Cheapside.' Before his consecration, he had been appointed one of the |