for the place. When the Mastership of the Temple was vacant, Lord Burleigh wished to appoint Travers; but Archbishop Whitgift opposed the nomination, and told the Queen "that Mr. Travers' had been one of the chief and principal authors of dissensions in the Church, a contemner of the Book of Prayers, and other orders by authority established; an earnest seeker of innovation, and either in no degree of the ministry at all, or else ordered beyond the seas3, not according to the form in this Church of England used." When Lord Burleigh wrote to the Archbishop strongly recommending Travers, and stating that he would be conformable to the orders of the Church, the Archbishop, replied, "that Travers was better known, he thought, to no man than himself; that when he (the Archbishop) was Master of Trinity College he had elected him Fellow of that house; that he had been before rejected by Dr. Beaumont, the former Master, for his intolerable stomach. Whereof he (the Archbishop) had afterwards such experience that he was forced, by due punishment, so to weary him that he was fain to travel, departing from the College to Geneva, otherwise he should have been expelled for his want of conformity towards the orders of the house, and for his pertinacity; and that there never was any under his government in whom he found less submission and humility than in him; that his book, De Disciplina Ecclesiastica, was wholly against the State and Government." Such was the man selected to be the first Provost of the College founded for the education of the Irish clergy. Nor were the Government more successful in their choice of a successor. Henry Alvey was a Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, and appears in his religious opinions not to have differed much from Travers. He was certainly connected with Cartwright and the other Puritans of that day. His puritanical principles did not, however, teach

Strype's Life of Whitgift, vol. i., p. 173.

a Travers was ordained by the Presbytery at Antwerp. The testimonial of his ordination is given by Fuller, Ch. Hist. b. 9, p. 214.

His only literary publication was a treatise in defence of usury, for which, says Ware, "he was severely handled in an answer which I have never seen."

him to perform his duty; and when the plague broke out in Dublin, with shameful cowardice he deserted his place, and fled to England, leaving the College to the care of James Ussher. While such were the men selected for the Provostship, we find the notorious Humfrey Fenn, after having escaped from the punishment inflicted upon him along with Cartwright, coming over to Dublin and assisting Dr. Chaloner in his parish, while an allowance was given to him from the College. These examples must have exercised a most pernicious influence upon the minds of the young students in divinity, and it is only surprising that any germ of affection for the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England could have survived in so corrupted an atmosphere. In Ussher we shall see that, however apparent were the traces of early associations, yet, in later years, the effects of this prava disciplina were almost obliterated. The pernicious practice which marred the early progress of the Irish University extended over the whole Irish Church. Whenever a man became so troublesome that it was necessary to get rid of him, whenever powerful interest claimed promotion for an individual whom the Government were ashamed to promote in England, he was sent over to Ireland, and obtained a high station in its Church. This state of things continued after the Restoration; the abuse was strongly and frequently complained of by Primate Boulter, and traces of it have existed even in the memory of the present generation.

As Catechist Ussher distinguished himself in a very remarkable manner. Every week he explained the pure principles of the Christian religion, as professed and maintained by the reformed Churches, in opposition to the errors which had mixed themselves with primitive Christianity in the creed of the Roman Catholic Church; and this task he performed with such a display of accurate knowledge on the most controverted subjects, and such a readiness and fluency of expression, that his friends anxiously pressed him to appear in the pulpit. This he steadily refused, pleading his youth as a sufficient excuse, until he was called forward by an appointment which compelled him to appear in public. Such

VOL. I.

C

any great assembly should be made before them, to persuade the people, by all good means and ways, to their seeming good, and especially by their own examples, to observe all orders for Divine Service; and to embrace, and devoutly to observe, the order and services of the Church Established in the realm by Parliament or otherwise." However, after the battle of Kinsale, the hopes of the Roman Catholics were destroyed, and they appear to have submitted themselves to the laws by attending, in great numbers, the different churches. To provide instruction for these numerous congregations, the Lord Deputy and Council directed the different clergymen to distribute themselves among the churches of Dublin, and preach a sermon in the afternoon of every Lord's day. For this purpose James Ussher was appointed to preach in the Church of St. Catherine, where he arranged the heads of each discourse into questions and answers for the following Sunday, on which day many persons of mature age voluntarily presented themselves to repeat the answers before the whole congregation, and thus raised the attention, and contributed to the instruction, of the Roman Catholics present. It is said that the effect of these regulations was such, that not only in Dublin, but in different parts of the kingdom, the Roman Catholics were so diligent in attending divine service, that if on any day they were prevented from being present, they made an apology to the churchwardens. This state of affairs did not continue long. The English government were anxious to prove that they did not persecute for religion, and sent to put a stop to what they deemed an unwarrantable exercise of authority. Lord Mountjoy, the Lord Deputy, in a letter, dated February 26th, 1602-3, thus expresses his satisfaction at the instructions: "Ande whereas it pleased your Lordships in your last letters to command us to deal moderately in the great matter of religion, I had, before the receipt of your Lordships letters, presumed to advise such as dealt in it, for a time to hold a more restrained hand therein, and we were both thinking

ourselves, what course to take in the revocation of what was already done, with least encouragement to them and others, since the fear that this course begun in Dublin would fall upon the rest, was apprehended over all the kingdom, so that I think your Lordships direction was to great purpose, and the other course might have overthrown the means to our own end of reformation of religion. Not that I think too great preciseness can be used in the reforming of ourselves, the abuses of our own clergy, Church livings, or discipline, nor that the truth of the Gospel can with too great vehemence or industry be set forward in all places, and by all ordinary means most proper unto itself, that was set forth and spread in meekness, nor that I think any corporal prosecution or punishment can be too severe for such as shall be found seditious instruments of foreign or inward practices, nor that I think it fit, that any principal magistrates should be chosen without taking the oath of obedience, nor tolerated in absenting themselves from publick divine service, but that we may be advised how we do punish in their bodies or goods any such only for religion, as do profess to be faithful subjects to her Majesty, and against whom the contrary cannot be proved'."

It appears however, that this pecuniary mulct was not entirely given up, for, in a petition presented to the King, in the year 1613, against the Lord Deputy, it is stated, among other grievances, "that the Statute made the 2nd of Elizabeth, laying a penalty of 12d. every Sunday and holiday for not going to church, is put strictly in execution in many places; but the said money, being a matter of great value over the whole kingdom, is not employed upon the poor, according to the Statute, but brought into the hands of the clerks of those courts, but how they dispose it the parishioners or churchwardens know not." And the Lord Deputy, answering this charge, states, "that the Statute of Recusants hath of late been put in execution in the county of Dublin more strictly than in any other county, in regard the eyes of all the kingdom are upon it, and attend what course the inhabitants of this county will take, to the end they may follow the same. Howbeit, there hath not been levied upon the recusants of this county within these twelve months last past above £14 or £15, or thereabouts; by reason that most of them that were prosecuted did choose rather to come to church than to pay the penalty of 12d. 2 Sunday; upon which conformity all arrears were remitted unto them; which course, if it be continued in the county as it is begun, and be

The sanction thus given to the violation of the Act of Uniformity excited considerable alarm in many, and in none more than in Ussher. He feared that the permission given by the Government for the free exercise of the Roman Catholic religion would tend to the disturbance of the Government, both in Church and State, and still further would be offensive in the sight of God, as sanctioning idolatrous practices. Not deterred from his sense of duty by any fear of man, he determined to take the opportunity of a sermon which he was called upon to preach in Christ Church before the State, for declaring his opinion of the sinfulness of the measures recently adopted. He chose for his text the sixth verse of the fourth chapter of Ezekiel, "And thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days; I have appointed thee each day for a year." This prophecy had been interpreted as specifying the time of forty years to the destruction of Jerusalem for their idolatry, and the youthful preacher made a direct application of them to his own country, in these remarkable words, "From this year will I reckon the sin of Ireland, that those whom you now embrace shall be your ruin, and you shall bear their iniquity."

It is stated in all the Lives of Ussher that he made this prophetical denunciation in 1601, and that its fulfilment, in the rebellion and massacre of 1641, excited in the minds of many a conviction that the preacher was inspired. Dr. Bernard says that Ussher himself was strongly impressed with a conviction of its fulfilment: "What a continued expectation," says he," he had of a judgment upon that his native country, I can witness from the year 1624, when I had the happiness first to be known to him, and the nearer the time

prosecuted in like manner in other counties, will bring the most part of the kingdom to church, except some few of great estate of living, who are more obstinate than the rest. And touching the monies levied in the county of Dublin, it is, indeed, left in the hands of the Clerk of the Crown, by a special order from the Lord Deputy and Council, to be employed in repairing of churches and bridges, and like charitable uses, because the poor of the parishes, who are not yet indicted, are not fit to receive the same, being recusants, and ought to pay the like penalty."-Desiderata Cur. Hibern. vol. i., pp. 249, 274.