THIS great Person , whose Life we now write , was Born in the City of Dublin , the Metropolis of Ireland , upon the fourth day of January , Anno Domini 1580. His Father , Mr. Arnold Usher , one of the Six Clerks of Chancery , ( and of good repute for his prudence and integrity ) was of the Ancient Family of the Ushers , aliàs Nevils , whose Ancestor ( Usher to King John ) coming over with him into Ireland , and setling there , changed the name of his Family into that of his Office , ( as was usual in that Age ) his descendants having since brancht into several Families about Dublin , and for divers Ages bore the most considerable Offices in , and about that City . His Mother was Margaret , Daughter of James Stanihurst , who was of considerable note in his time , being chosen Speaker of the Honourable House of Commons in three Parliaments , and was Recorder of the City of Dublin , and one of the Mastres of Chancery , and ( that which ought always to be mention'd for his honour ) he was the first mover , in the last of the three Parliaments , of Queen Elizabeth , for the Founding and Endowing of a Colledge and University at Dublin , which was soon after consented to by Her Majesty ; and , being perfected , hath ever since continued a famous Nursery for learning and good manners ; blessing both the Church and State with many admirable men , eminently useful in their several Stations . His Uncle , by the Fathers side , was Henry Usher , ( sometime Arch-Bishop of Armagh ) a wise and learned Prelate ; one who industriously promoted the founding of that University , and by his Zeal and Interest procured of the said Queen an established Revenue for the maintainance of a Provost and Fellows , Students , and Officers , as may be seen by the Charter and Statutes of that Foundation ; and so it has flourished ever since with ample improvement : A happy Foundation and great honour to that Kingdom , having ( in the space of somewhat more than 90 years ) sent out divers Persons very considerable both in Church and State ; and yielded more than fifty Bishops , besides others of inferiour Dignities , who were many of them of great parts , and excellent learning . His Uncle , by the Mother side , was Richard Stanihurst , a Learned man , ( of the Romish Perswasion ) an excellent Historian , Philosopher and Poet , as appears by several of his Works still extant , though some of them ( for that reason written ) against his Nephew ; yet notwithstanding their difference in Judgment , they had frequent correspondencies by Letters , some of which you will see hereafter in this following Collection . He often mentioned two of his Aunts , who were blind from their Cradle , and so continued to their deaths , and yet were blessed with admirable understanding , and inspection in matters of Religion , and of such tenacious Memories , that whatever they heard read out of the Scriptures , or was preached to them , they always retained , and became such proficients , that they were able to repeat much of the Bible by heart , and ( as their Nephew told me ) were the first that taught him to read English . He had but one Brother , Ambrose Usher ; who though he died young , yet attained to great skill and perfection in the Oriental Tongues , and did render much of the Old Testament from the Original Hebrew into English , before King James's Translation was made , which I have seen , and is now in Manuscript with his Nephew Sir Theophilus Jones , Knight , one of his Majesties Privy-Council in Ireland . He also Translated out of Latin into English , that Book written by his Brother , James Usher , De Ecclesiarum Christianarum successione & statu ; which Translation is yet only in Manuscript . And of this Ambrose , being a very young man , the Learned Mr. William Eyre in a Letter to Dr. James Usher , writes thus , Interea vero agnosco me valde obaeratum esse tibi , & doctissimo juveni , fratri tuo Ambrosio , qui peritissima manu sua quaedam in meum usum ex Alcorano Arabice excripsit ; which knowledge in the Arabick Tongue in those days was very rare , especially in that Country : But our James Usher , as God had furnisht him with excellent endowments of Nature , a treatable Disposition , a strong Memory , and a ready Invention ; so by God's blessing , on his improvement of them , by his Learning and Industry , he arrived to that admirable perfection , that gave him a reputation superiour to all that he could derive from his Family ; and rendred his name famous beyond the narrow bounds of his own Country , even throughout the Christian World , wherever true Piety and useful Learning were had in any esteem and veneration .

After he had learnt to read from his Aunts , he entered on the Bible ( that Book of Books , as he ever called it ) in which he made a happy beginning , and a more happy progress ( like Timothy , of whom it is recorded , That from a Child he had known the Holy 1 Tim. 3. 15 , 16. Scriptures , which are able to make a man wise to Salvation . ) According to which excellent Rule he always governed his life and conversation . He began early to have a deep sense of Religion , and to consider the great concernment of his Soul , how he might serve God aright , Remembring his Creator in the days of his Youth , even , but in the tenth year of his Age : When he became fit for a Grammar-School , it happened that two eminent Persons of the Scottish Nation ( though their business and quality were then unknown ) came to Dublin , being sent over thither by King James ( then King of Scotland ) to keep a correspondence with the English Protestant Nobility , and Gentry about Dublin , in order to secure his interest in that Kingdom , when Queen Elizabeth should happen to die ; these for a colour undertook the imployment of School-Masters , to instruct and discipline Youth in Learning and good Education ( for the want of such was very great there at that time ) . The one was James Fullerton ; ( afterward Knighted , and of the Bed-chamber to King James , ) the other was James Hamilton , ( afterward also Knighted and created by the King Viscount Clandebois . ) To their Instruction and Tuition was our James Usher committed by his Parents , with whom he made so great a proficiency in a short time , that he became the best Scholar of the School for Latin , Poetry and Rhetorick , ( all this being within the space of five years . ) He would usually say , when he recounted the Providences of God towards him , That he took this for one remarkable instance of it , That he had the opportunity and advantage of his Education from those men , who came thither by Chance , and yet proved so happily useful to himself and others . He told me , That in this first Scene of his life he was extreamly addicted to Poetry , and was much delighted with it , but afterward growing to more maturity and consideration , he shook it off , as not suitable to the great end of his more resolved , serious and profitable Studies , and then set himself industriously to pursue Learning of a higher Nature : Yet he always loved a good Poem that was well and chastly writ : And lighting once upon a passage in Tully , ( viz. ) Nescire quid antea quam natus sis acciderit , id est , semper esse Puerum ; and also reading Sleidan's History of the four Empires , he presently resolved on the study and search of Antiquity , and all sorts of Learning , and how he might contribute to the advancement thereof : this was a brave , and a manly attempt for a Lad , but of 12 or 13 years of age ; yet as he attempted , so he conquered all the difficulties which he met with in the search after , and bringing to light those many things , which ignorance had corrupted , and time well-nigh buried in oblivion ; especially in a Country where there was then so great a scarcity of good Books , and learned Men. I mention these things so much above his years , for a remembrance of God's special Providence over this Person , in endowing him with such admirable gifts of Nature , to dispose him so vigorously to Learning , and to fit and qualifie him for such highly serviceable Undertakings ; so that he seem'd designed by God , by his Doctrine , and Example to teach men how to live , and by his deep Learning , and strong Reason to confute the clamorous Cavils of the greatest adversaries of our Religion .

year 1593 In the year 1593 was Trinity Colledge in Dublin finished , and James Usher then in the thirteenth year of his age adjudged by his School-Masters sufficiently qualified for an admittance into that University , and so was entered accordingly . Dr. Loftus ( sometime Fellow of Trinity Colledge in Cambridge ) afterwards Arch-Bishop of Dublin , being the first Provost of that College , and Mr. Hamilton ( one of this our Usher's School-Masters , and Senior Fellow ) was Tutor to this early ripe Youth ; whose name ( as the first Scholar there ) stands to this day in the first line of the Roll : not without a future presage , that he might prove an honour and ornament to that Colledge and Nation , as he afterwards did . And being thus fixed , he sets himself in good earnest to the study of the Languages and Liberal Arts , not neglecting Ecclesiastical History and Antiquity , in all which he improved to admiration ; for between fifteen and sixteen years of age he had made such a proficiency in Chronology , that he had drawn up in Latin an exact Chronicle of the Bible , as far as the book of Kings , not much differing from the method of his late Annals , excepting the enlargements in some more accurate Observations and Synchronisms of Heathen Stories : Sometime after this ( before he was Batchelor of Arts ) he had read Stapleton's Fortress of the Faith , and finding his confidence in asserting Antiquity for the Tenents of Popery , and taxing of our Church with Novelty , in what it dissented from theirs , he was in a great dispute with himself where the truth lay , not then knowing but that those quotations , he made use of , might be true : but this he took for an undeniable truth , That the ancientest must needs be the right , as the nearer the Fountain the purer the Streams , and that Errours sprang up as the Ages succeeded ; according to that known Speech of Tertullian , Verum quodcunque primum , adulterum quodcunque posterius : He suspected that Stapleton might misquote the Fathers , or wrest them to his own sense ; which made him take up a firm resolution , That in due time ( if God gave him life ) he would himself read the Fathers all over , and trust none but his own Eyes in the search of them ; and this was the occasion of his undertaking that great work , which he ( afterwards ) began at twenty years of age , and finished at thirty eight ; strictly observing to read such a proportion each day , from which no occasions whatsoever should divert him ; the fruits of which labour , as the World hath already tasted in his learned Writings , so had he lived to finish that great work of his Bibliotheca Theologica , which he intended as the sum of all his Studies on that important subject , whereof we shall give you a further account hereafter ; yet before he was Master of Arts he had read here and there divers Books of the Fathers , and most of our best Authors , who had writ in confutation of the Errors of the Papists , with many of their Writers also ; by which he had so well acquainted himself with the state of each Controversie , that he was able to dispute with any of the Popish Priests , as he often did with the chiefest of them .

year 1598 The Earl of Essex being newly come over Lord Lieutenant of Ireland , and Chancellor of the university of Dublin , there was a solemn Act for his entertainment : Our Usher being then Batchelor of Arts , answered the Philosophy Act , with great approbation . But while he was busily imploying himself in these studies and great designs , to fit himself for the Divine Calling of the Ministry , ( when he should be qualified for so high and great imployment ) his Father recommended to him the study of the Common Law ( designing to send him shortly over to the Inns of Court in England , ) but to this his Son was very averse , it no ways suiting with his natural Temper and Complexion ; yet dutifully would have submitted , if his Father could not be brought to alter his mind in that matter : But soon after he died , and the paternal Estate descended to this his eldest Son , being of a considerable value ; but this young Heir was so far from being transported by such an accession of Fortune , that it did not in the least shake him from his design ; for he finding it somewhat incumbred with Law Suits , and Sisters Portions , and fearing those might prove an hinderance to the course of his Studies ( which he still resolved to pursue ) he chose rather to commit himself to the Providence of God anew , and so very frankly gave his Inheritance to his Brother , and his several Sisters for their Portions ; only reserving so much of it as might enable him to buy some Books , and afford him a competent maintenance in the College . This act of his perhaps by some may be censured for indiscretion ; yet so much may be allowed him in his vindication , that it shews how little he valued Earthly things , in comparison of true Wisdom and Learning : And besides , to let you see that he very well understood what he did in this matter , There is to be seen an exact Terrier of his own hand writing , of all the Estate and Leases left him by his Father : And that it might not be thought he did any thing rashly , and with precipitation , he drew up an exact state of all the Suits and Incumbrances that lay upon it , with directions what to do in them , which he committed to his Uncle ( as Guardian for his Brother and Sisters ) to be managed for their advantage , which he so well performed , that most of his Sisters ( being seven in all ) were afterwards very well married , and some of them to Persons that proved eminently considerable both in Church and State .

And now being setled in the Colledge , and freed of his worldly cares , and left to his own choice , he devotes himself entirely to the pursuit of all literature both Humane and Divine ; for the service of God's Church , and the good of Mankind , ( which he chiefly aimed at next the Salvation of his own Soul : ) and in these noble subjects he constantly exercised himself ; and did so much increase in all sorts of knowledge , that his Fame ( thô he sought it not ) went abroad , and he soon became an Example of Piety , Modesty and Learning : But that which administred greatest cause of admiration , was , That so much fruit should be found upon a Plant but newly set , and scarcely ripe for blossoms ; so that in this short space ( from the thirteenth year of his age to the twentieth ) he gave most ample proofs of his learning and abilities in all publick Exercises which he performed .

About the eighteenth or nineteenth year of his age , he being but Batchelor of Arts , was thought the fittest person to enter the lists of disputation with a daring and learned Jesuite , one Henry Fitz-Symonds , then prisoner in the Castle of Dublin , who sent out a challenge Defying the greatest Champion , and best Learned to dispute with him about those points in controversie between the Roman , and Reformed Churches : Our Usher accepts the challenge , and accordingly they met ; the Jesuite made slight of him at first , as but a boy , and thinking it an easie task to baffle him , the Priest admits a publick Disputation , ( the subject of which was Bellarmine's Controversies ) and because the several matters in debate could not be dispatched at one or two meetings , they appointed to meet once a week to argue the chief Points in Controversie : But it seems that after one or two Conferences the Jesuite had enough of it ; for though he despised him at first , yet he did not care to have any more to do with him ; for , after the second Conference , this boasting Goliah declined the Combate with this stripling ; and not without cause , for he had felt the quickness of his Wit , the strength of his Arguments , and skill in Disputation ; so that this Jesuite quickly left the Field , as will appear by this modest Letter which Mr. Usher then writ to him .

No answer to this Letter , nor any further conference can I find : but this , the Jesuite confessed after he got out , viz. Prodiit quidam Vide ejus Praefat. ad Britanno-Machiam , &c. octodenarius , praecocis sapientiae juvenis , de abstrusisimis rebus Theologicis , cum adhuc Philosophica studia vix emensus , nec ex Ephebis egressus , &c. In English to this effect , There came to me once a youth of about 18 years of age , of a ripe Wit , when scarce , as you would think , gon through his course of Philosophy , or got out of his Childhood , yet ready to dispute on the most abstruse points of Divinity : But afterwards the same Jesuite , living to understand him better , calls him Acatholicorum doctissimus ; a tender expression from a Jesuite ; he does not say of Hereticks , but of the Not Catholicks most Learned .

Anno Dom. 1600. ] Being now twenty years old , and having lived in the Colledge seven years from his first admission , he took the degree of Master of Arts ; and the same year he was chosen Catechist Reader in the Colledge ; in which office and imployment he treated of the pure Principles of the Christian Religion , in Faith and Practice , as professed and maintained by the Reformed Churches , in opposition to the Errors and Innovations , which had mixed themselves with Primitive Christianity ; and sifting the Wheat from the Tares , He did so learnedly and plainly discharge that Exercise to the satisfaction of his then Auditors , that he was much importuned to appear , and Preach in publick , which was ( as himself then thought ) very much above his years to enter on so weighty a charge . But not being able to withstand the importunity of his Friends , and the commands of Superiors , he yielded , though with some reluctance ; so that being thought fit for the Ministry in the twenty first year of his age , he was accordingly Ordained Deacon and Priest , by his Uncle Henry Usher , then Arch-Bishop of Armagh , with the assistance of others of the Clergy , Anno 1601 , which though uncanonical , yet his own extraordinary merit , and the necessity which the Church then had of such a Labourer , rendred a dispensation in that case very tolerable , if not necessary . And being not long after appointed to Preach constantly before the State , at Christ-Church in Dublin , on Sundays in the afternoon , he made it his business to treat of the chief points in controversie between the Romish Church , and Ours : In which Discourses he was so clear , powerful , and convincing , that he thereby setled many that were wavering , and converted divers from that Superstitious perswasion to the Church of England . And now this young , but grave Divine applies himself to the study of gaining Souls , as the main end , and design of his Ministry , and this he continued through the whole course of his life , and was exceeding successful in it . The first Text he preached on Publickly before the State , presently after his Ordination , was Rev. 3. 1. Thou hast a name that thou livest , and art dead ; which fell out to be the day of the Battle of Kinsale , and was especially set apart to pray for the good success of that Engagement , which God was pleased to answer with a noble Victory .

And it must be here remembred , That in the year 1601 , after that the Irish Papists , many of them in , and about Dublin , and some other parts of the Kingdom , had seemingly submitted to the Laws ; and came frequently to our Churches ; yet there were still very many of the Irish that kept their distance from the English , and stuck to their old Principles , and earnestly solicited for a Toleration ( or at least a Connivance ) to use their own way of Worship ; which this zealous Divine believed to be Superstitious , and Idolatrous . And fearing lest a Connivance might be granted to them , and so a lukewarm indifferency to Religion might seize on the Protestants themselves . This pious young man was deeply touched with the sense of the evil of such an Indulgence , and dangerous Consequence of allowing liberty to that sort of People , to exercise a Religion so contrary to the truth ; and fearing that the introducing of that Religion tended to the disturbance of the Government in Church and State ; on which occasion this newly Ordained Servant of God then Preached a very remarkable Sermon before the same Audience on a great Solemnity , and did not dissemble , but freely gave his Opinion in reference to a Toleration : And this he did , from that of Ezekiel's Vision , concerning the destruction of Jerusalem and that Nation , Ezek. 4. 6. And thou shalt bear the iniquity of the House of Judah forty days : I have appointed thee each day for a year . He made then this his conjecture in reference to Ireland ( viz. ) From this year I reckon forty years , and then those whom you now imbrace shall be your ruine , and you shall bear their iniquity . This then uttered by him in his Sermon , seemed only to be the present thoughts of a young man , who was no friend to Popery ; but afterwards when it came to pass at the expiration of forty years ( that is from 1601. to 1641. ) when the Irish Rebellion broke out , and that they had murthered and slain so many thousands of Protestants , and harassed the whole Nation by a bloody War , then those , who lived to see that day , began to think he was a young Prophet .

year 1603 Neither must it be forgotten , that after the English Forces had beaten , and driven out the Spaniards , who then came to the assistance of the Irish at Kinsale , that Army resolved to do some worthy act , that might be a lasting memorial of the gallantry of Military men ; and that due respect which they had for true Religion and Learning . To promote which , they raised among themselves the Sum of 1800 l. to buy Books to furnish the Library of the University of Dublin . And when the Sum was raised , it was resolved by the Benefactors , That Dr. Challoner , and Mr. James Usher should have the said 1800 l. paid into their hands to procure such Books , as they should judge most necessary for the Library , and most useful , for advancement of Learning , which they accordingly undertook ; and coming into England for that purpose ; where , as also from beyond Sea they procured the best Books in all kinds , which were then to be had : So that they most faithfully discharged that great trust , to the Donors and the whole Colledges great satisfaction . And it is somewhat remarkable , that at this time , when the said Persons were at London about laying out this money in Books , they then met Sir Thomas Bodley there , buying Books for his new erected Library at Oxford , so that there began a correspondence between them upon this occasion , helping each other to procure the choicest and best Books on several subjects that could be gotten ; so that the famous Bodleyan Library at Oxford , and that of Dublin , began together .

About this time the Chancellorship of St. Patrick , Dublin , was conferred on him by Dr. Loftus , then Arch-Bishop of Dublin , which was the first Ecclesiastical Preferment that he had , and which he retained without taking any other Benefice , until he was thence promoted to the Bishoprick of Meath . Here he lived single for some years , and kept Hospitality proportionable to his Incomes ; nor cared he for any overplus at the years end , ( for indeed he was never a hoarder of money ) but for Books , and Learning he had a kind of laudable covetousness , and never thought a good Book ( either Manuscript or Printed ) too dear . And in this place Mr. Cambden found him , Anno 1607. when he was putting out the last Edition of his Britannia , where speaking of Dublin he concludes thus , Most of which I acknowledge to owe to the diligence and labour of James Usher , Chancellor of the Church of St. Patricks , who in various learning and judgment far exceeds his years . And though he had here no particular obligation to preach ( unless sometimes in his course before the State , ) yet he would not omit it in the place from whence he received the profits , viz. Finglass , not far from Dublin , which he endowed with a Vicaridge , and preached there every Lord's Day , unless hindered by very extraordinary occasions .

year 1607 In the year 1607. being the seven and twentieth of his age , he took the degree of Batchelor of Divinity , and soon after he was chosen Divinity Professor in the University of Dublin ; wherein he continued thirteen years , reading weekly throughout the whole year ; his Lectures were Polemical , upon the chief Controversies in Religion , especially those Points and Doctrines maintained by the Romish Church , confuting their Errors , and answering their Arguments by Scripture , Antiquity , and sound Reason , which was the method he still used in that Exercise , as also in his Preaching , and Writings , when he had to do with Controversies of that Nature , then most proper to be treated on ; not only because incumbent upon him by virtue of his place , as Professor , but also in respect of Popery , then prevailing in that Kingdom : But as for those many learned and elaborate Lectures he then read , written with his own hand , and worthy to be Printed , we cannot tell what is become of them ; those and many other of his Pieces , full of excellent Learning , being dispersed , or lost by the many sudden removals of his Papers , or detained by such to whom they were lent ; and as 't is pity any of the Works of this great man should be lost , so I wish that those Persons , who have any of them in their hands , would restore them to compleat these Remains , since they cannot be so useful in private Studies , as they would be if published to the World .

year 1609 About this time there was a great dispute about the Herenagh Terman , or Corban Lands , which anciently the Chorepiscopi received ; which as well concerned the Bishops of England , as Ireland . He wrote a learned Treatise of it , so approved , that it was sent to Arch-Bishop Bancroft , and by him presented to King James ; the substance of which was afterwards Translated by Sir Henry Spelman into Latin , and published in the first part of his Glossary , as himself acknowledgeth , giving him there this Character , Literarum insignis Pharus : Which Treatise is still in Manuscript in the Arch-Bishop's Library at Lambeth .