opportunities and it was his usual custome to spend Saturdayes in the afternoon in these duties Amongst other sins he much bewayled his too much love to humane learning which made him as glad when Munday came that he might renue his studies as he was when Sabbath day came wherein he was to apply himself to the service of God and it cost him many tears that he could not be more heavenly-minded at that age At fiftten years old he had made such a progress in the study of Chronology that he drew up in Latine an exact Chronicle of the Bible as far as to the Books of the Kings which did not much differ from that of his late Annals excepting his enlargements by some exquisite observations and the Syncronismes of Heathen story About this time also he was much afflicted with a strong temptation which moved him to question Gods love to him because he was so free from afflictions which was occasioned by some inconsiderate passages which he met with in some Authors and long was he under some trouble before he could get rid of it Before he was Bachelor of Arts he read Stapletons Fortress of the Faith and therein finding how confidently he asserted Antiquity for the Popish Tenets withall branding our Church and Religion with novelty in what we dissented from them he was much troubled at it not knowing but that his quotations might be right and he was convinced that the Ancientest must needs be best as the nearer the Fountain the sweeter and clearer are the streams yet withall he suspected that Stapleton might mis-report the Fathers or wrest them to his own sense and therefore he took up a setled resolution that in due time if God prolonged his life and health he would trust onely his own eyes by reading over all the Fathers for his satisfaction herein which work he afterward began at Twenty years old and finished that vast labour at Thirty eight strictly tying himself to a certain portion every day what occasions soever intervened Whilst he was Batchelor of Arts he read divers of the Works of the Fathers and most Authors which had written the Body of Divinity both Positively and Polemically in consuting the Popish errors and had read many of their Authors also by which means he was so well acquainted with the state of those controversies that he was able to dispute with any of the Popish Priests as he often did with the principal of them Anno Christi 1598 The Earle of Essex newly coming over Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and being chosen Chancellor of the University of Dublin there was a solemn Act appointed for his entertainment and Mr. Usher being then Batchelor of Arts answered the Philosophy Act with great applause and approbation About this time his Fathers intention was to send him over into England to the Innes of Court for the study of the Common Law which was a great trouble to him yet in obedience to his Fathers will he assented and resolved upon it but it pleased God that his Father shortly after dyed viz. August the 12. Anno Christi 1698 so that then he being at liberty to make choice of his studies devoted and applied himself wholly to Divinity and thereupon was chosen Fellow of the College being before uncapable of taking the Oath which was required of all Fellows at their Admission viz. that the present intent of their studies should be for the Profession of Divinity unless God should afterwards otherwise dispose their mindes And here again was an other occasion of disturbance to his mind ministred to him For his Father left him a good estate in land but finding that he must have involved himself in many Suits of Law before he could attain to the quiet enjoyment of it to the interrupting of his other studies he gave up the benefit of it to his brothers and sisters suffering his Uncle to take Letters of Administration for that end resolving to cast himself upon the good Providence of God to whose service in the work of the Ministry he had wholly devoted himself not doubting but he would provide for him yet that he might not be judged weak or inconsiderate in that Act he drew up a note under his hand of the state of all things that concerned it and directions what to doe about it When he was nineteen years old he disputed with Henry Fitz-Simonds a Jesuit in the Castle of Dublin as himself acknowledgeth in his Preface to his Book called Britanno-mochia Ministrorum the occasion of which Dispute was this The Jesuit by way of challenge as it was interpreted gave forth these words That he being a Prisoner was like a Bear tyed to a stake but wanted some to bait him Whereupon this eminent man for so he was though very young was thought fit and able to encounter him though at their first meeting he despised his youth as Goliah did David Mr. Usher proffered to dispute with him about all Bellarmines Controversies for which a meeting was appointed once every week and it fell out that the first subject proposed was De Antichristo about which they had two or three solemne Disputations and Mr. Usher was ready to have proceeded further but the Jesuit was weary of it yet gives him a tolerable commendation and much admired his abillities in such young years concerning which he saith There came once to me a youth of about eighteen years of age one of a too soon ripe wit scarce you would thank that he could have gone through his course of Philosophy or that he was got out of his childe-hood yet was he ready to dispute upon the most abstruce points of Divinity And afterwards the same Jesuit living to understand more of him saith that he was A catholicorum doctissimus the most learned of such as were not Catholicks being as it seems unwilling or ashamed to call him Heretick Anno Christi 1600 when he was about twenty years old he commenced Master of Arts and answered the Philosophy Act and was chosen Catechist of the College in which office he went through a great part of the Body of Divinity in the Chappel by way of Common place and Ministers being scarce at that time there were three young men of the College chosen out and appointed to preach in Christ Church before the State One was Mr. Richardson afterwards Bishop of Ardah who was appointed to preach an Expository Lecture upon the Prophesie of Isaiah every Friday Another was Mr. Welch afterwards Dr. of Divinity who was designed to handle the Body of Divinity on Sabbaths in the forenoon the third was our learned Usher who was to handle the controversies for the satisfaction of the Papists on the Lords dayes in the afternoons which he did fully and cleerly alwayes concluding with some emphatical Exhortation that it tended much to the edification and confirmation of the Protestants in their Principles as many of them in their elder yeares have
Thus whilst he condescended to them and they submitted to him both parties were gratified Though he had a numerous issue yet through Gods blessing upon his estate he disposed of them to no mean imployments Many he sent to the Universities some to Merchandise c. To his Sons whom he bred in the University his Rule was Study work more than wages To those whom he bred in the City he would say Do not waste a halfpenny and you will not want a penny And truly so well did they all improve as his advice so their own time and parts that they became Masters of their particular Callings which ministred unto him no small comfort He acknowledged it a great mercy to his dying day that none of his children were blemished either in their bodies or in their reputations He was one of them in whose children that Popish slander concerning the ungraciousness of the children of the married Clergy received a real confutation Many of his Sons he buried in their prime some at home others in forreign parts and some dyed shortly after himself yet all of them gave comfortable hopes to conclude upon a rational charity both by the pious Letters of those which dyed abroad and from that particular account which they gave of themselves who dyed at home that they all meet in Heaven they which survive need not this attestation Amongst the dead there was Mr. Tho. Harris of Magdalen College in Oxford who was eminently learned beyond his age an Ornament to that Noble Foundation whereof he was a member once the joy of his friends and still their sorrow and probably this arrow from Gods hand stuck deep in the Fathers heart to his dying day For his servants there are some yet living that served him in his younger dayes who still bless God that ever they came under his roof where they received the beginnings of Grace and such a measure of knowledge as kept them from warping in the late giddy times Whilst he remained with his antient Flock his constant manner was to keep a Religious Fast before his administration of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper And after he came to his small College he so prudently managed all his affairs that he was both feared and loved Indeed his government there was such as caused a wonder For whereas that College before was famous for factions during his time there was never any complaint made to any Visitors and no marvel for the Foundation there honoured him as a Father and he looked upon and loved them as his Children and accordingly he scaled up his love to them in his last Will and Testament He called Gifts Bribery and hated the very shadow of it Examples are known in the College of Gratuities refused long after faire and free Elections But look upon him as a Schollar and there we have him in his proper Element Though he left the University early and preached constantly yet being of a retired disposition a constant student and endowed with great parts he became Master of all manner of Learning to qualifie a Divine In the sacred Languages especially in the Hebrew he was very exact His Conciones ad Clerum declare him to have been a pure and Polite Latinist His first which was preached and printed long since hath undergone the test and gained the approbation of all knowing men in that Language the younger by full forty years is of as good a complexion and of as vigorous a constitution as its elder brother and it s hoped that in due time it may be made as publick What his abilities in Disputation were hath upon several occasions been made to appear in that College Exercises in the Chappel where oft-times in the unexpected absence of the Opponents himself would ex tempore take up the Cudgels and make good their ground In which Exercises he approved himself a subtle clear and ready Disputant without any grains of allowance either for his age or discontinuance Indeed his chiefest Learning lay where he made least shew of it in publick viz. in Chronology Church-History Councils Case-Divinity and his insight into the Fathers But his parts were best seen in the pulpit His gifts in Prayer were much more than ordinary wherein his affections were warm and fervent his Petitions pithy and substantial his language pertinent unaffected and without Tautologies Oh how would he raise up a dull and sinking spirit How would he warm a cold and frozen heart How would he carry a man out of himself and by degrees mount the soul heaven-ward His Sermons in Print are well known to the world and his works praise him in the Gates The particular excellencies of Nazianzen Basil Chrysostome Austin Ambrose Bernard seemed all to conâ—enter in him He taught Rhetorick to speak in our Mother-tongue and without falshood or flattery he may be stiled The English Orator His Doctrines carried light with them and his Uses heat His Reproofes were weighty and his Exhortations powerful But enough of this lest we hear as he did who spake much in commendation of Hercules Quis unquam vituperavit who ever dispraised him yea what either Christian or Schollar but approved or commended him If you would know the worth of his Sermons read them though read they come short of what they were when preached yea read them again and again and endeavour to read them with the same spirit they were preached and you cannot but acknowledge an excellency in them Amongst other his excellencies in preaching which were many these were not the least that he could so cook his meat that he could make it relish to every pallate He could dress a plain discourse so as that all sorts should be delighted with it He could preach with a learned plaineness and had learned to conceal his Art He had clear Notions of high Mysteries and proper language to make them stoop to the meanest capacity His way in contriving and penning his Sermons was this 1. He so contrived the parts of his Text and points of Doctrine as might afford him most scope in his Application wherein his and indeed a Sermons excellency doth consist and therefore he used to say That in a Sermon he contrived the Uses first He did often handle the same Texts and the same Points and yet still would pen new Applications which might be most suitable to the quallity and condition of the Auditory 2. In penning when he once began he would never take Pen from paper nor turn to any Book till he had written all All his younger dayes for about twenty years together he wroâ—ght all and could without much difficulty preach the same verbatim He was wont to say That he had a fluid and waterish memory I can said he quickly remember any thing of my own and as quickly fâ—rget it again Yet questionless his memory was vast and tenacious for though sometimes he had but short Notes in his Bible and that
God he afterwards found not only to be beneficiall unto him in preparing his heart for his work but also that it became an effectual means of his more peaceable and comfortable settlement in that place where the people were divided amongst themselves by reason of a potent man in the Town who adhered to another Cambridge man whom he would faign have brought in But when he saw Mr. Cotton wholly taken up with his own exercises of spirit he was free from all suspition of his being Pragmatical or addicted to siding with this or that party and so both he and his party began to close more fully with him Secondly Whereas there was an Arminian party in that Town some of whom were witty and troubled others with Disputes about those points by Gods blessing upon his Labours in holding forth positively such truths as undermined the foundations of Arminianism those Disputes ceased and the Tenets of Arminianism were no more pleaded for Thus God disposeth of the hearts of hearers as that generally they are all open and loving to their Preachers at their first entrance For three or four years he lived and preached amongst them without opposition They accounted themselves happy as well they might in the enjoyment of him both the Town and Country thereabouts being much bettered and reformed by his Labours But after he was not able to bear the Ceremonies imposed his Non-Conformity occasioned his trouble in the Bishops Court at Lincoln from whence he was advised to appeal to an higher Court and imploying Mr. Leveret who afterwards was one of the Ruling Elders of the Church of Boston in New England to deal in that business and he like Jacob being a plain man yet piously subtile to get such a spiritual blessing so far insinuated himself into one of the Proctors of that high-Court that Mr. Cotton was treated by them as if he were a Conformable man and so was restored unto Boston After this time he was blessed with a successfull Ministry unto the end of twenty years In which space he on the Lords Dayes in the afternoons went over the whole Body of Divinity in a Catechistical way thrice and gave the heads of his Discourse to those that were yong Scholars others in the Town to answer his questions in publick in that great congregation and after their Answers he opened those heads of Divinity and finally applied all to the edification of his people and of such strangers as came to hear him In the morning of the Lords Dayes he preached over the first six Chapters of the Gospel of St. John the whole Book of Ecclesiastes the Prophesie of Zachariah and many other Scriptures and when the Lords Supper was administred which was usual every monâ—th he preached upon 1 Corinth 11. 2 Chron. 30. the whole Chapter besides some other Scriptures concerning that subject On his Lecture days he preached through the whole first and second Epistles of John the whole Book of Solomons Song the Parables of our Saviour set forth in Matthews Gospel to the end of Chapter the 16th comparing them with Mark and Luke He took much pains in private and read to sundry young Scholars that were in his House and to some that came out of Germany and had his house full of Auditors Afterwards seeing some inconvenience in the Peoples flocking to his House besides his ordinary Lecture on the Thursdays he preached thrice more in publick on the week days viz. on Wednesdays and Thursdays early in the morning and on Saturdays at three a clock in the afternoon Only these three last Lectures were performed by him but some few years before he had another famous Colleague He was frequent in Duties of Humiliation and Thanksgiving Sometimes he continued five or six hours in Prayer and opening the Word So indefatigable was he in the Lords Work so willing to spend and be spent therein Besides he answered many Letters that were sent him far and near wherein were handled many difficult Cases of Conscience and many doubts cleared to great satisfaction He was a man exceedingly beloved and admired of the best and reverenced of the worst of his Hearers He was in great favour with Dr. Williams the then Bishop of Lincoln who much esteemed him for his Learning and when he was Lord Keeper of the Great Seal he went to King James and speaking of Mr. Cottons great Learning and worth the King was willing notwithstanding his Non-conformity to give way that he should have his Liberty in his Ministry without interruption which was the more remarkable considering how that Kings Spirit was carried out against such wayes Also the Earl of Dorchester being at Old Boston and hearing Mr. Cotton preaching about Civil Government he was so affected with the wisdom of his words and spirit that he did ever after highly account of him and put himself forth what he could in the time of Mr. Cottons troubles to deliver him out of them that so his Boston might still enjoy him as formerly but his desires were too strongly opposed to be accomplished About this time he married his second Wife Mistriss Sarah Story then a Widow He was blessed above many in his Marriages both his Wives being pious Matâ—ons grave sober and faithfull By the first he had no children the last God made a fruitfull Vine unto him His first-born was brought forth far off upon the Sea in his passage to New England So that he being childless when he left Europe arrived a joyfull Father in America In memorial whereof he called his name Sea-born to keep alive said he in me and to teach my Son if he live a remembrance of Sea-mercies from the hand of a gracious God He is yet living and entred into the Work of the Ministry A Son of many Prayers and of great expectation The corruption of the times being now such that he could not continue in the exercise of his Ministery without sin and the envy of his maligners having now procured Letters Missive to convent him before the High Commission Court which Letters a debauched Inhabitant of that Town undertook to serve upon him who shortly after died of the Plague Mr. Cotton having intelligence thereof and well-knowing that nothing but scorns and imprisonment were to be expected from them according to the advice of many able heads and upright hearts amongst whom that holy man of God Mr. Dod of blessed memory had a singular influence he kept himself close for a time in and about London as Luther sometime did at Wittenberg and Paraeus since at Anvilla Yet was not that season of his recess unprofitable For addresses during that time were made unto him privately by divers persons of worth and piety who received satisfaction from him in their Cases of Conscience of greatest concernment And when he went into New England it was not a flight from duty but from evident danger and unto duty Not from the
conscience pure and intire he gave up that which was intended as a baite to Apostacy But the Lord who hâ—â—h promised to his faithful followers reparation and satisfaction for all their losses for his sake raised him up Friends by whose assistance and encouragement he pursued his studies at Oxford and in process of time when not onely the clouds of ignorance and superstition were dispelled but also those bloody storms in the Marian dayes were blown over he took upon him the publick Ministry of the Gospel and was houshold Chaplain to that great Favourite Robert Earle of Lecester and afterwards Pastor of St. Edmunds in Lumberd street London In which Parsonage house by his wife who was of an honest Family of the Pigots in Hertfortshire amongst other children he had this Thomas who was born September the 4. Anno Christi 1574. In his Childe-hood he was so addicted to those means which his Parents applied him unto for the implanting in him the seeds of good Literature that he rather needed a bridle than a spur For his love of learning equal to that admirable capacity wherewith the Father of Lights had furnished him was so active in the acquiring of it that his Father was fain often gently to chide him from his book Neither were his nimble wit sharp judgement and vast memory perverted to be the instruments of that debauchery wherewith the corruption of our Nature doth too often stain and desloure our first dayes For he had a lovely gravity in his young coversation so that what Gregory Nazianzen said of the great Basil might be averred of him That he held forth Learning beyond his age and a fixedness of manners beyond his Learning Having happily finished his Tyrocinnia of first exercises in the Grammar-Schooles wherein he overcame by his strange industry the difficulties which thâ—se times destâ—tute of many helps which our present dayes do enjoy conflicted withall and outstripped many of his fellows which ran in the same course before he had compleated sixteen years viz. Anno Christi 1590 he was by his Father placed in St. Johns College in Cambridge Not long after his settlement there his Father being called by God to receive the reward of his labours left him not wholly destitute and yet not sufficiently provided for any long continuance of his studies in that place But God who hath engaged his truth and mercy to the upright and even to his seed also Ps. 112. 1 2. especially when the Son doth not degenerate nor thwart the Providence of God by a forfeiture of his title to the Promises provided friends and means for him who was by an hidden counsel then designed to be an instrument of doing much service to the Church of Christ. Thus the fruit was not nipped in a promising bud by the Frost of want Now not from meer favour but from merit upon the proof of his Learning he was 〈◊〉 chosen Scholler of that worthy Society wherein he continued his studies with unwearied diligence and happy success till he with abilities answerable to his Degree commenced Master of Arts. For an instance of his industry take this viz. That he was a constant Auditor of that eminent Light of Learning Mr. John Boys who read a Greek Lecture in his bed to certain young Students that preferred their nightly studies before their rest and ease The notes of those Lectures he kept as a treasure and being visited by Mr. Boys many years after he brought them forth to him to the no small joy of the good old man who professed that he was made some years younger by that grateful entertainment About this time was contracted that streight friendship betwixt our Mr. Gataker and that faithful servant of Jesus Christ. Mr. Richard Stock which continued to the death of this Reverend Minister as appears by Mr. Gatakers testimony given unto him at his Funeral An evidence of that good esteem which Mr. Gataker had now acquired for his Learning and Piety was this That a College being then to be erected by the Munificence of the Countess of Sussex the Trustees of that Foundress being persons eminent for Prudence and Zeal did choose him for one of that Society and they transplanted him into that new Nursery of Arts and Religion being confident that he would as indeed he did by Christs assistance prove very fruitful both for the ornament and benefit of that Seminary Indeed they laid hold of him before the house was fit for Inhabitants fearing lest so fair and promising a Flower should be taken up by some other hand But while the College was in building that he might not lose any opportunity of doing good he retired himself to the house of Mr. William Aylofes in Essex who had prevailed with him to instruct both himself in the Hebrew Language and his eldest Son in that Literature which was proper to his age In this Family partly by his own inclination and partly by the encouragement of the Governours thereof he performed Family Duties for the instruction and edification of the whole houshold expounding to them a portion of Scripture every morning that the Sun of Righteousness might as constantly arise in their hearts as the day brake in upon them In this Exercise whereby he laboured to profit both himself and others he went over the Epistles of the Apostles the Prophesie of Isaiah and a good part of the Book of Job rendring the Text out of the Original Languages and then delivering cleer Explications and also deducing usefull Observations Dr. Stern the Suffragan of Colchester on a time visiting the Mistress of the Family to whom he was nearly related happened to be present at one of these Exercises at which time Mr. Gataker explicated the first Chapter of St. Pauls Epistle to the Ephesians which is known to be most pregnant of Divine My steries But this portion of holy Writ he treated upon with such happy elucidations that the judicious Doctor was much satisfied with his pains therein and admiring the endowments of Mr. Gataker exhorted him instantly to be Ordained to the work of the Ministry whereby those his gifts might be authoritatively exercised for the publick good and improved for the building up of the Church and withall offered him his assistance in that business But Mr. Gataker well weighing the burden of that Calling and judging modestly of his own abilities which he conceived disproportionable for that Office to the full discharge whereof the Apostle hath set 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who is sufficient thanked the Doctor for his kinde offer but deferred the matter to further consideration But afterwards by the advice of the Reverend Mr. Henry Alvey formerly his Tutor and whom in this business he now took for his counsellour upon his remonstrance of divers reasons and the importunity of Dr. Stern afresh re-iterated he assented to be Ordained by the said Suffragan The Fabrick of Sidney-Sussex College being now finished
intending chiefly Sir Robert Cottons Library and conversing with learned men amongst whom even in those his younger years he was in great esteem In his after-years he was acquainted with the rarities in other Nations There was scarce a choice Book in any eminent persons Library in France Italy Germany or Rome it self but he had his way to procure it or what he desired transcribed out of it so that he was better acquainted with the Popes Vatican than some that daily visited it The Puteani fratres two learned men in Paris holp him much with many Transcripts out of Thuanus and others between whom and him many Letters passed Now though the reading of the Fathers all over was a vast work yet the pains he took out of the common road of learning in searching of Records and all the Manuscripts he could get throughout Christendome together with the knotty study of Chronology and Antiquity was equal with if it did not exceed the other Many Volumes he also read onely to attain to the knowledge of the use of words in several ages as Galen Hipocrates c. and most of the Records in the Tower of London Besides there was scarce the meanest book in his own Library but he remembred it even to admiration and had in his head readily whatsoever he had read The first Church-preferment which he had was given him by Archbishop Loftus a little before his death which was the Chancellorship of St. Patricks Dublin unto which he took no other Benefice In that place Mr. Camden found him when he was writing his Britannia Anno Christi 1607 and in his observations concerning Dublin saith of him Most of these I acknowledge to owe to the diligence and labours of James Usher Chancellor of the Church of St. Patricks who in various learning and judgement far exceeds his years In this preferment though the Law required not his preaching but onely in his course before the State yet would he not omit it in the place from whence he received his profits and though he endowed it with a Vicaridge yet went he thither in person viz. to Finglas a mile from Dublin and preached there every Lords day unless he were detained upon some extraordinary occasions and the remembrance that he had been a constant Preacher was a greater comfort to him in his old age than all his other labours and writings His experiments in Prayer were many and very observable God ofen answering his desires in kinde and that immediately when he was in some distresses and Gods Providence in taking care and providing for him in his younger years as he often spake of it so it wrought in him a firm resolution to depend upon God in his latter dayes what ever extremity he might be brought into Anno Christi 1607 when he was twenty seven years old he commenced batchelor of Divinity and immediately after be was chosen Professor of Divinity in the University of Dublin At first he read twice a week and afterwards once a week without intermission throughout the year going through a great part of Bellarmines Controversies In this employment he continued thirteen or fourteen years and was a great ornament to his place Three Volumes of those his Lectures written with his own hand he hath left behinde him and it would be a great honour to that University where they were read and benefit to many others if they were published When he performed his Acts for his degree Latine Sermon Lectures Position and answered the Divinity Act he wrote nothing but only the heads of the several Subjects putting all upon the strength of his memory and present expressions as also he did his English Sermons His readiness in the Latine Tongue was inferiour to none in these latter times which after seventeen years disuse from the time that he left his Professors place appeared when he moderated the Divinity Act and created Doctors to all mens admiration The Provostship of the College of Dublin falling void he was unanimously elected thereto by all the Fellows he being then about thirty years of age but foreseeing that upon the settlement of Lands belonging to it and the establishing of other matters he should be much impeded and distracted in his studies he refused it and so another was sent out of England to fill it The revenues of it were very considerable whereby we may see how mean and little the things of the world seemed in his eyes even in those his younger years About this time the Irish Prelates especially Dr. Hampton his predecessor in the Sea of Armagh had obtained King James his grant for reducing Ireland to the same Ecclesiastical Government of the Church of England the principal occasion whereof was this The English Prelates a little before had used a great deal of severity against the Non-conformists their High Commission and other Courts and Canons had driven many worthy and learned men into other Countries and some of them went into Ireland the Irish Bishops being weary of this resort are desirous to advance their power to the same height with the English Hierarchy combined together and obtained King James his Commission to Sir Arthur Chichester Earle of Belfast a famous Souldier and prudent Governour who was at this time Lord Deputy and bore the Sword there eleven years together with very much honour and esteem in that Nation For the effecting of this a great Assembly of the whole Nation was convened In the Commission the King required them to consult with Mr. Usher whose learning judgement and esteem would much conduce to the promoting of that work But if he approved it not the King required that they should proceed no further for that he would not be the author of any Innovation amongst them This reserve troubled the Prelates exceedingly and therefore they resolved to carry it closely the Kings Letters to them they transmitted from one to another but acquainted not Mr. Usher with them intending to surprize him when the Assembly was met they should come prepared and fortified he would be taken on the sudden Howbeit God that intended him for so great a good at that time in crossing their design that many faithful labourers in his Vineyard might not by this their power be displaced by a special Providence gave him some light though but very little into the matter and the manner was thus Mr. Usher going to visit one of them found him perusing the Kings Letter but upon his coming he laid it down in his window closed at both ends onely there was an open place in the middle and as they were discoursing together Mr. Usher glancing his eye upon it espied his own name and some other vvords about himself of which he could not pick out the meaning but yet he judged them to be of importance as Discipline Ireland England c. Mr. Usher thought it not prudence for him to take notice of those hints neither could
acknowledged Having thus preached for a while as a Probationer he refused to continue it any longer having not as yet received Ordination He also scrupled to be as yet Ordained by reason of his defect of years the Canons requiring twenty four and he being yet but twenty one But by some grave and learned men he was told that the Lord had need of his labours and so upon their perswasions and importunity his age being dispensed with according to some former presidents he was ordained at the usual time the Sabbath before Christmas day Anno 1601 by his Uncle Henry Usher Archbishop of Armagh with the assistance of some other Ministers The first Text that he preached publickly upon before the State after his Ordination was Rev. 3. 1. Thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead which fell out to be the same day upon which was fought the Battel of Kinsale which being a day specially set apart by prayer to seek unto God for his blessing and assistance in that engagement and being his first fruits after his entrance into the Office of the Ministry God might in a more than ordinary manner make his labours efficatious and prevailing the rest of that Epistle to the Church of Sardis he finished afterwards It was well known that if the Spaniards had gotten the better that day the Irish Papists had designed to murther the English Protestants both in Dublin and other places but especially the Ministers Hence said he arose a tentation in me to have deferred my Ordination till the event of the Battel had been known that so I might the better have escaped their fury but I repelled that suggestion and resolved the rather upon it that dying a Minister and in that quarrel I might at least be the next door to a Martyr The Spaniards being as was said before overthrown at Kinsale and the hopes of the Irish as to that design being frustrated they began generally to subject themselves to the Statute which was now put in execution in their coming to Church and that it might tend the more to their profit the Lord Lieutenant and his Council desired the Ministers at Dublin so to divide themselves that in imitation of what he had already begun at Christ Church there might be a Sermon on the Lords dayes in the afternoon at every Church upon those Controversies St. Katherines a convenient Church was assigned for Mr. Usher who removed accordingly and duely observed it and his custome was that what he had delivered in one Sermon he drew it up into Questions and Answers and the next Lords day several persons of note voluntary offered themselves to repeat those Answers before the whole Congregation which made them more clear and perspicuous to the Popish party It pleased God by his and the labours of others of his Brethren in the Ministry not only in Dublin but in other parts of the Kingdome that the Papists came so diligently to Church that if they had any occasion to absent themselves they used to send in their excuses to the Church-wardens and there were great hopes in a short time to have reduced the whole Nation to Protestanisme But on a sudden the execution of the Statute was suspended and the power of the High Commission Court then erected and used onely against the Papists was taken away whereupon the Papists presently withdrew themselves from the publick Assembles the Ministry was discouraged all good mens hearts were grieved and Popery from that time forward encreased till like a great Deluge it had overflowed the whole Nation Upon this the spirit of this holy man like Pauls at Athens was exceedingly stirred in him insomuch as preaching before the State at Christ Church upon a special solemnity he did with as much prudence courage and boldness as became his young years give them his opinion of that abominable Toleration of Idolatry making a full and clear application of that passage in Ezekiels Vision Chap. 4. 6. where the Prophet by lying on his side was to bear the iniquity of Judah for forty dayes I have appointed thee saith the Lord each day for a year This said he by the consent of Interpreters signifies the time of forty years to the destruction of Jerusalem and of that Nation for their Idolatry and so said he will I reckon from this year the sin of Ireland and at the end of the time those whom you now imbrace shal be your ruine and you shall bear this iniquity wherein he proved a Prophet For this was delivered by him Anno Christi 1601 and Anno 1641 was the Irish Rebellion and Massacre and what a continued expectation he had of a great judgement upon that his Native Country I saith Dr. Bernard can witness from the year 1624 at which time I had the happiness first to be known to him and the nearer the time approached the more confident he was of the event though as yet nothing that tended towards it was visible to other men The Body of Divinity which is printed in his name is highly commended by Mr. Downam who set it forth and so it is by a stranger Ludovicus Crocius who much desired that some English man would turn it into Latine for the benefit of forreign Churches but it was not intended by him for the Press It was begun by him in publick but finished some years after in private in his Family constantly instructing them twice a week unto which persons of quality and learning resorted and divers of them took Notes whereby several Copies were dispersed abroad some imperfect and mistaken and many passages are in it which were not his neither is the whole so polished as his other Pieces which were published by himself and indeed he was displeased that it came forth without his knowledge yet understanding how much good it had done he connived at it Shortly after the aforementioned defeat given to the Spaniards at Kinsale the Officers of our English Army gave 1800 pounds to buy Books for the College Library at Dublin then Souldiers were advancers of Learning the ordering of which was committed to Dr. Challoner and this Lord Primate who made a journey into England on purpose to buy Books with it He then met with Sir Thomas Bodly who was buying Books for his Library at Oxford and they were very helpful each to other in procuring the rarest Pieces In his journey he visited Mr. Christopher Goodman who had been Professor of Divinity in Oxford in King Edward the sixths dayes then lying on his death-bed at Chester and he would often repeat some grave and wise speeches that he heard from him After this he constantly came over into England once in three years spending one moneth at Oxford another at Cambridge in searching the Books especially the Manuscripts in each University amongst which those of Corpus Christi College in Cambridge he most esteemed the third moneth he spent at London