verance,’ some copies which reached London came under the notice of Laud, then bishop of London. He procured the king's letters to be written to Abbot, archbishop of Canterbury, for suppressing the book in England, and to Ussher, archbishop of Armagh, for similar measures in Ireland; the ground alleged being a contravention of his majesty's declaration prefixed to the articles in 1629. The royal letters, dated 24 Aug. 1631, did not reach Ussher till 18 Oct., and by this time nearly the whole of the edition of Downham's book was distributed. Ussher thought the censure of the Dublin press more properly belonged to his ‘brother of Dublin,’ Launcelot Bulkeley [q. v.]; but he promised that thereafter nothing should be published contrary to ‘his majesties sacred direction.’ This was an arbitrary step, for the English articles had not been adopted by the Irish church, nor did the king's declaration refer to any church except that of England. Downham's treatise was expressly devoted to ‘maintaining the truth’ of the thirty-eighth of the Irish articles of 1615. On two occasions, the latter being 3 Oct. 1633, Downham received powers for the apprehension of delinquents in his diocese on his own warrant. His diocese abounded in Irish-speaking ‘recusants’ (who, according to the Ulster visitation of 1622, printed in Reid, filled whole parishes), and contained many presbyterians. Downham used his authority with discretion. He anticipated the wise policy of the saintly Bedell of Kilmore [q. v.], by providing clergy who could catechise and preach in Irish; and he treated the presbyterians in a friendly spirit. He had no cathedral till in 1633 the London corporation completed the present structure at a cost of 4,000l. He died at Derry on 17 April 1634, at what age is not known, and was buried in the cathedral, or, according to Maturin, in the old Augustinian church. John Downham or Downame [q. v.] was his younger brother.
He published: 1. ‘A Treatise concerning Antichrist … against … Bellarmine,’ &c., 1603, 4to, 2 parts. 2. ‘Lectures on the 15th Psalm,’ 1604, 4to. 3. ‘The Christian's Sanctuary,’ 1604, 4to. 4. ‘Abraham's Trial,’ 1607, 12mo (a Spital Sermon preached in 1602). 5. ‘Funeral Sermon for Sir Philip Boteler,’ 1607, 12mo. 6. ‘Two Sermons … the Ministerie in generall … the office of Bishops,’ &c., 1608, 4to (the second, with separate title-page, is the one preached at Montague's consecration); 2nd edit. 1609, 4to. 7. ‘The Christian's Freedom,’ &c., 1609, 4to; another edition, Oxford, 1635, 8vo. 8. ‘Commentarius in Rami Dialecticam,’ Frankfort, 1610, 8vo (the prefixed oration is much commended by Fuller). 9. ‘A Defence of the Sermon,’ &c., 1611, 4to (four parts; in reply to ‘An Answere,’ 1609, 4to, probably by John Rainolds, D.D., to whom is also ascribed ‘A Replye,’ 1613–14, 4to; other replies were by H. Jacob, ‘An Attestation of … Divines,’ &c., 1613, 8vo; and by Paul Baynes, ‘The Diocesan's Trial,’ 1621, 4to; reprinted, 1644, 4to). 10. ‘Papa Antichristus,’ &c., 1620, 4to, 2 parts. 11. ‘Sermon,’ 1620, 4to (Matt. vi. 33). 12. ‘An Abstract of … Duties … and Sinnes,’ &c., 1620, 8vo (Watt), 1635, 8vo, edited by B. Nicoll. 13. ‘The Covenant of Grace,’&c., Dublin, 1631, 4to (appended, with separate title-page, is ‘A Treatise of the certainty of Perseverance’); reprinted 1647, 12mo. 14. ‘A Treatise of Justification,’ 1633, fol. Posthumous were: 15. ‘A Treatise against Lying,’ 1636, 4to. 16. ‘Sermon,’ 1639, 4to (2 Cor. xiii. 11). 17. ‘A … Treatise of Prayer,’ &c., Cambridge, 1640, 4to (edited by his brother John).
[Prynne's Canterburies Doome, 1646, pp. 171 sq., 434, 508 sq.; Fuller's Worthies, 1662, p. 189 (first pagination; mispaged 289); Wood's Athenæ Oxon., 1691, i. 260; Ware's Works (Harris), 1764, i. 292 sq.; Chalmers's Gen. Biog. Dict. 1813 xii. 297 sq.; Fisher's Companion and Key to Hist. of Engl., 1832, p. 756; Lewis's Topographical Dict. of Ireland, 1837, ii. 304; Collier's Eccl. Hist. of Great Britain (Barham), 1841, viii. 49; Reid's Hist. Presb. Ch. in Ireland (Killen), 1867, i. 146 sq., 159, 164, 515; records at Chester and Derry throw no light on his birth or age.]
DOWNHAM or DOWNAME, JOHN (d. 1652), puritan divine, younger son of William Downham, bishop of Chester [q. v.], was born in Chester. He received his education at Christ's College, Cambridge, as a member of which he subsequently proceeded B.D. On 4 Aug. 1599 he was instituted to the vicarage of St. Olave, Jewry (Newcourt, Repertorium, i. 515), which he exchanged, 5 March 1601, for the rectory of St. Margaret, Lothbury, then lately vacated by his brother George [q. v.], but resigned in June 1618 (ib. i. 402). He would seem to have lived unbeneficed until 30 Nov. 1630, when he became rector of Allhallows the Great, Thames Street (ib. i. 249), which living he held till his death. He was the first, says Fuller, who preached the Tuesday lectures in St. Bartholomew's Church behind the Exchange, which he did with great reputation (Worthies, 1662, 'Chester,' p. 191). In 1640 he united with the puritan ministers of the city in presenting their petition to the privy council against Laud's oppressive book of canons (Brook, Puritans, ii. 496-7); in 1643 he was appointed one of the licensers of the press,
