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USHER (or USSHER), JAMES (1581-1656)

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 810 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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USHER (or USSHER), See also:JAMES (1581-1656)  , See also:Anglican divine and See also:archbishop, was See also:born in the See also:parish of St See also:Nicholas, See also:Dublin, on the 4th of See also:January 1581 . He was descended from the See also:house of Nevill, one of whose scions, accompanying See also:John See also:Plantagenet to See also:Ireland in the capacity of See also:usher in 1185, adopted his See also:official See also:title as a surname . See also:James Usher was sent to a school in Dublin opened by two See also:political agents of James VI. of See also:Scotland, who adopted this manner of averting the suspicions of See also:Elizabeth's See also:government from their real See also:object, which was to secure a party for James in Ireland in the event of the See also:queen's See also:death . In 1594 Usher matriculated at the newly founded university of Dublin,whose See also:charter had just been obtained by his See also:uncle, See also:Henry Usher, archbishop of See also:Armagh . He proved a diligent student, devoting much See also:attention to controversial See also:theology, graduated as M.A. in x600 and became a See also:fellow of Trinity See also:College . On the death of his See also:father in 1598 he resigned the See also:family See also:estate to his younger See also:brother, reserving only a small See also:rent-See also:charge upon it for his own See also:maintenance, and prepared to take orders . When he was but nineteen he accepted a See also:challenge put forth by Henry Fitzsimons, a learned Jesuit, then a prisoner in Dublin, inviting discussion of See also:Bellarmine's arguments in See also:defence of See also:Roman Catholicism, and acquitted himself with much distinction . In 1600 he was appointed See also:proctor of his college and catechetical lecturer in the university, though still a layman, and was ordained See also:deacon and See also:priest on the same See also:day, in 16o1, while still under the canonical See also:age, by his uncle the See also:primate . In 1607 he became regius See also:professor of divinity and also See also:chancellor of St See also:Patrick's See also:cathedral, Dublin . He was a frequent visitor to See also:England, and made the acquaintance of contemporary scholars like See also:Camden, See also:Selden, See also:Sir See also:Thomas See also:Bodley and Sir See also:Robert See also:Cotton . In 1613 he published his first printed See also:work, though not his first See also:literary See also:composition—Gravissimae Quaestionis de Christianarum Ecclesiarum, in Occidentis praesertim partibus, ab Apostolicis temporibus ad nostram usque aetatem, continua successione et statu, Historica Explicatio, wherein he took up the See also:history of the Western See also:Church from the point where See also:Jewel had See also:left off in his See also:Apology for the Church of England, and carried it on from the 6th till past the See also:middle of the 13th See also:century, but never completed it . In 1615 he took See also:part in an See also:attempt of the Irish See also:clergy to impose a Calvinistic See also:confession, embodying the See also:Lambeth Articles of 1595, upon the Irish Church, and was delated to See also:King James in consequence .

But on his next visit to England in 1619 he brought with him an See also:

attestation to his orthodoxy and high professional See also:standing, signed by the See also:lord See also:deputy and the members of the privy See also:council, which, together with his own demeanour in a private See also:conference with the king, so influenced the latter that he nominated Usher to the vacant see of See also:Meath, of which he was consecrated See also:bishop in 1621 . In 1622 he published a controversial Discourse of the See also:Religion anciently Professed by the Irish and See also:British, designed to show that they were in agreement with the Church of England and opposed to the Church of See also:Rome on the points in debate between those churches . In 1623 he was made a privy councillor for Ireland, and in the same See also:year was summoned to England by the king that he might more readily carry on a work he had already begun upon the antiquity of the British churches . While he was detained on this business the archbishop of Armagh died in January 1625, and the king at once nominated Usher to the vacant primacy; but severe illness and other causes impeded his return to Ireland until See also:August 1626 . For many years Usher was actively employed both in the government of his See also:diocese and in the publication of several learned See also:works, amongst which may be specified See also:Emmanuel (a See also:treatise upon the Incarnation), published in 1638, and Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates, in 1639 . In 1629 he discountenanced Bishop See also:William See also:Bedell's proposal to revive the Irish See also:language in the service . In 1634 he took part in the See also:convocation which drafted the See also:code of canons that formed the basis of Irish ecclesiastical See also:law till the disestablishment of the Irish Church in 1869, and defeated the attempt of John ' See also:ram-See also:hall, then bishop of Derry and later his own successor in Armagh, to conform the Irish Church exactly to the doctrinal See also:standards of the See also:English . He put the See also:matter on the ground of preserving the See also:independence of the Irish Church, but the real See also:motive at work was to maintain the Calvinistic See also:element introduced in 1615 . In 164o he paid another visit to England on one of his usual scholarly errands, meaning to return when it was accomplished . But the See also:rebellion of 1641 See also:broke out while he was still at See also:Oxford, and he never saw his native See also:country again . He published a collection of tracts at Oxford in that year, including a defence of See also:episcopacy and the See also:doctrine of non-resistance . All Usher's See also:property in Ireland was lost to him through the rebellion, except his books and some See also:plate and See also:furniture, but he was assigned the temporalities of the vacant see of See also:Carlisle for his support .

In 1643 he was offered a seat in the See also:

Assembly of Divines at See also:Westminster, but declined it publicly in terms which See also:drew upon him the anger of the House of See also:Commons, and an See also:order for the See also:confiscation of his library was averted only by the interposition of Selden . He quitted Oxford in 1645 and went into See also:Wales, where he remained till 1646, when he returned to See also:London, and was in 1647 elected preacher to the Society of See also:Lincoln's See also:Inn, an See also:office which he continued to hold until near his death . During his See also:residence in Wales a hyper-Calvinistic work entitled A See also:Body of Divinity; or the Sum and Substance of the See also:Christian Religion, was published under his name by John Downham; and, although he repudiated the authorship in a See also:letter to the editor, stating that the See also:manuscript from which it was printed was merely a See also:commonplace-See also:book into which he had transcribed the opinions of See also:Cartwright and other English divines, often disapproving of them and finding them dissonant from his own See also:judgment, yet it has been persistently cited ever since as Usher's genuine work, and as lending his authority to positions which he had See also:long abandoned, if he ever maintained them . In 1648 he had a conference with See also:Charles I. in the Isle of See also:Wight, assisting him in the abortive negotiations with See also:parliament on the question of episcopacy . About this See also:time See also:Richelieu offered him a See also:pension . In 1650-54 he published the work which was long accounted his most important See also:production, the Annales Veteris et Novi Testamenti, in which he propounded a now disproved See also:scheme of Biblical See also:chronology, whose See also:dates were inserted by some unknown authority in the margin of reference See also:editions of the Authorized Version . In 1655 Usher published his last work, De Graeca LXX Inter pretum Versione Syntagma . He died on the 20th of See also:March 1656, in See also:Lady See also:Peterborough's house at See also:Reigate, and was buried in Westminster See also:Abbey . He was long remembered, not only for his See also:great learning but for his modesty and kindly disposition . His daughter sold his library to the See also:state, and in 1661 it was placed in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, of which it still forms a part . Usher's works are very numerous, and were first collected by C . R .

Elrington and J . H . Todd, Dublin (1847-64, in 17 vols.) . See See also:

Life by Carr (1895) ; W . B . See also:Wright, The Ussher See also:Memoirs (1889) .

End of Article: USHER (or USSHER), JAMES (1581-1656)
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