James Parnell
James Parnel or Parnell (baptised 1636 – 1656) was an English Quaker pamphleteer and martyr.[1][2]
Life
Parnel was born at East Retford, Nottinghamshire, the son of Thomas and Sarah Parnel, and was apprenticed to his father. As a teenager he became a nonconformist, visited George Fox in prison in 1653, and joined the Society of Friends.[1]
In 1654 Parnel was imprisoned in Cambridge, but a jury cleared him of sedition in pamphlets. He debated against East Anglian Baptists in 1655. He moved into Essex, making converts including Stephen Crisp and John Furly. He was arrested after intervening at the end of a church service at Great Coggeshall, and taken to Colchester Castle. Acquitted by a jury, he was kept in prison on a contempt charge. He died in Colchester Castle on 10 April 1656. An inquest found he had died from illness and a hunger strike.[1]
Works
Parnel wrote:[2]
- A Trial of Faith, wherein is discovered the ground of the Faith of the Hypocrite, which perisheth, and the Faith of the Saints, which is founded upon the Everlasting Rock, London 1654. It was twice reprinted in 1655, and again in 1658. It was translated into Dutch in 1656, into French as L'Espreuve de la Foy, 1660, and into German, Amsterdam, 1681.
- The Fruits of a Fast, appointed by the Churches gathered against Christ and His Kingdom, London, Giles Calvert, 1655.
- The Trumpet of the Lord blowne, or a Blast against Pride and Oppression, London, Giles Calvert, 1655.
- A Shield of the Truth, or the Truth of God cleared from Scandalls and Reproaches, London, 1655.
- The Watcher … or a Discovery of the Ground and End of all Forms, Professions, Sects, and Opinions, London, 1655.
- Goliath's Head cut off with his own Sword; In a Combat betwixt Little David, the Young Stripling … and Great Goliath, the Proud Boaster, London, 1655. This was in answer to a paper issued against him by Thomas Drayton of Abbot's Ripon, Huntingdonshire.
He also wrote from prison, shortly before his death, epistles and addresses, as well as A Warning to all People (translated into Dutch, 1670), all of which were printed in A Collection of the several Writings given forth from the Spirit of the Lord, through … James Parnel, &c. Published in the year 1675.[2]
A true and lamentable Relation of the most desperate Death of James Parnel, Quaker, who wilfully starved himselfe in the Prison of Colchester, 1656, was printed by Henry Glisson, who in a letter addressed to Parnel in prison had called him a disciple of Henrik Niclaes the Familist. There was published a ballad The Quaker's Fear; wonderful, strange, and true news from the famous town of Colchester, in Essex, shewing the manner how one James Parnell, a Quaker by profession, took upon him to fast twelve days and twelve nights without any sustenance (black letter broadside with three woodcuts). These works were answered by Parnel's friends in The Lamb's Defence against Lyes. And a true Testimony given concerning the Sufferings and Death of James Parnell. And the ground thereof. By such hands as were eye-witnesses, and have subscribed their names thereto, London, Giles Calvert, 1656.[2][1]
Notes
- 1 2 3 4 Davies, Adrian. "Parnel, James". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/21387. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- 1 2 3 4
Lee, Sidney, ed. (1895). "Parnell, James". Dictionary of National Biography. 43. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
External links
- Works by or about James Parnell in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Lee, Sidney, ed. (1895). "Parnell, James". Dictionary of National Biography. 43. London: Smith, Elder & Co.