Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 58.djvu/74

 turies; Ussher undertook to show a continuity of the same doctrine to 1513. The portion published reaches the year 1270; before completing his task Ussher awaited a reply by his uncle, Richard Stanyhurst [q. v.], of which only a ‘Brevis Præmunitio’ (1615) appeared. With George Abbot [q. v.], archbishop of Canterbury, who had been made chancellor of Trinity College in 1612, Ussher conferred respecting new statutes. Abbot complained of sundry arrangements as ‘flat puritanical;’ Ussher wrote (9 April 1613) to Challoner: ‘I pray you be not too forward to have statutes sent you from hence.’ On 27 April Challoner died, his last wish being that his daughter and heiress should marry Ussher. The marriage took place within a year. Ussher proceeded D.D. on 18 Aug. 1614, and was chosen vice-chancellor on 2 March 1614–15; he was chosen vice-provost on 13 May 1616 (to act in Temple's absence); and on 3 July 1617 he was again chosen vice-chancellor.

In 1615 was held at Dublin the first convocation of the Irish clergy on the English model. Hitherto the only ‘articles of religion’ having authority in Ireland were the eleven articles drawn up by Matthew Parker [q. v.] in 1559, and authorised for Ireland in 1566 (when they were numbered as twelve). Ussher was deputed to draft a new formulary. It extended to 104 articles under nineteen heads. Incorporating much from the articles of 1559, and more from the Anglican articles of 1562, the Irish articles take over the whole of the Lambeth articles of 1595 [see, and ] and even go beyond them in definition of the subjects of reprobation. Further, they declare the pope to be the ‘man of sinne;’ identify the ‘Catholike’ with the ‘Inuisible’ church; reject ‘the sacrifice of the Masse’ as ‘most ungodly;’ affirm ‘the eating of fish and forbearing of flesh’ to be not a religious but an economic provision; declare religious ‘images’ of every kind unlawful; and direct the Lord's day ‘wholly to be dedicated’ to divine service. The most striking omission is the absence of reference to distinction of orders among the clergy or to any form of ordination. It does not appear that subscription to these articles was compulsory, but the decree of convocation imposed silence and deprivation as the penalties for public teaching contrary to them.

By letter of 30 Sept. 1619 from the Irish to the English privy council, Ussher was recommended for the next vacant bishopric. The document was intended ‘to set him right in his majesties opinion’ in regard of his alleged ‘unaptness to be conformable.’ He had been passed over when Launcelot Bulkeley [q. v.] was appointed to Dublin (11 Aug.). He was presented (17 April 1620) to the rectory of Trim, resigning Assey. On the death of George Montgomery (January 1620–1) James I at once nominated Ussher to the see of Meath and Clonmacnoise. On 18 Feb. he preached before the House of Commons at St. Margaret's, Westminster, when the members received the communion as a test against popery. His patent was issued on 22 Feb., and he resigned his professorship. On his return to Ireland he was consecrated (the writ is dated 27 June) at St. Peter's, Drogheda, by Christopher Hampton [q. v.], archbishop of Armagh, and three suffragans, including Theophilus Buckworth (1561–1652), bishop of Dromore, who had married Ussher's sister Sarah. The yearly revenue of the see amounted to little over 400l.; Ussher held Trim (worth 200l.) in commendam, perhaps also Finglas, where he was living in 1623.

Ussher's ‘certificate’ of the state of the diocese (28 May 1622) is a most minute and interesting document (, app. v.). There was no cathedral and no chapter; the clergy met in synod, but the great majority of the parish churches were ruinous; yet Elrington considers the diocese ‘at that time the best arranged and most civilised part of Ireland.’ Ussher made endeavours to win the Roman catholics by his sermons, preaching in the session-house when he could not induce them to enter the church. Rumours of his adopting less legitimate modes of propaganda (‘clandestine christenings’) are mentioned in a letter (April 1622) by Sir Henry Bourgchier. His sermon (8 Sept. 1622) before the new lord deputy, Henry Cary, first viscount Falkland [q. v.], showed anxiety to curb corresponding efforts on the part of the Roman catholic priesthood. Archbishop Hampton wrote (17 Oct.) a wise remonstrance, advising Ussher to soften matters ‘by a voluntary retraction and milder interpretation,’ and to ‘spend more time’ in his diocese. According to Cox (Hibernia Anglicana, 1690, ii. 39), Ussher preached an explanatory sermon; he certainly wrote (16 Oct.) an explanatory letter, but it must be added that in his speech at the privy council (22 Nov.) enforcing the oath of supremacy, he distinctly recognises the death penalty for heresy as part of the civil government. This speech was published with a special letter of thanks by James I, who in the following year granted Ussher an indefinite leave of absence in England for the completion of his projected works on the antiquities of the British church.