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Williams, Griffith, D.D.

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an English divine, was born at Carnarvon, in North Wales, about 1589. He entered Oxford University in 1603, but two years later entered Jesus College, Cambridge, where he graduated and entered into holy orders. He became curate of Hanwell, Middlesex; rector of Foscot, Buckinghamshire; and lecturer of St. Peter's, Cheapside, London; was suspended by the bishop of London in 1615; received the living of Llanllechid, in the diocese of Bangor; became domestic chaplain to the earl of Montgomery, and tutor to his children; was promoted to be chaplain to the king, and prebendary of Westminster; was instituted dean of Bangor, March 28, 1634; was consecrated bishop of Ossory, Ireland, in 1641, but was obliged to fly to England on the breaking-out of the Irish Rebellion, in less than a month after taking possession; endured great hardships for many years on account of his attachment to the crown; regained his bishopric at the Restoration and died at Kilkenny, March 29,1672. Among his published works are, The Delights of the Saints (1622):Seven Golden Candlesticks (1627): — 'The True Church (1629): — The Right Way to the Best Religion (1636): — Vindicia Regum (1643): — The Discovery of Mysteries (eod.): — Discourse on the Only Way to Preserve Life (1644): — Jura Majestatis (eod.): — The Great Antichrist Revealed (1660): — Description and Practice of the Four Most Admirable Beasts (1663): — The Persecution of John Bale and of Griffith Williams (1664): — Sermons and Treatises.(1665). See Chalmers, Biog. Dict. s.v. Williams, John (1), D.D., a distinguished English prelate, was born at Aber-Conway, Carnarvonshire, Wales, March 25, 1582. He was admitted to St. John's College, Cambridge; in 1598; graduated there in 1602, and was made fellow; took holy orders in 1609, and was appointed to a small living near Bury St. Edmund's, upon the borders of Norfolk; was presented to the rectory of Grafton-Regis, Northamptonshire, in 1611; appointed chaplain to lord Egerton the same year, by whom he was promoted to the rectory of Grafton-Underwood, Northamptonshire; made precentor of Lincoln in 1613; rector of Waldgrave, Northamptonshire, in 1614, and between that year and 1617 was made prebendary and residentiary in the Church of Lincoln, prebendary of Peterborough, of Hereford, and of St. David's, and secured a sinecure in North Wales. On the accession of Francis Bacon as lord-keeper, he was made justice of the peace for Northamptonshire, and chaplain to the king at the same time; became dean of Salisbury in 1619, and of Westminster in 1620; was made lord-keeper of the great seal of England July 10,1621, and in the sane month bishop of Lincoln; was removed from his post as lord-keeper by Charles I in October, 1626; in 1636 convicted of subornation of perjury when tried for betraying the king's secrets, fined £10,000, suspended from his offices and imprisoned in the Tower, where he remained three years and six months; was released, and resumed his seat in the House of Lords in 1640, and by command of the king had all the records of proceedings against him cancelled; became archbishop of York in 1641; retired to his estate at Aber-Conway in July, 1642, and fortified Conway Castle for the king. After the death of Charles I, he spent the remainder of his days in sorrow, study, and devotion, and died March 25, 1650. He published several Sermons, and The Holy Table, Name and Thing more Anciently, Properly, and Literally Used under the New Testament than that of Altar (1637).