Calybute Downing, Jr.

DOWNING, CALYBUTE (1606-1644), divine, son of Calybute Downing of Sherrington in Gloucestershire, and of Ann, daughter of Edmund Hoogan of Hackney, was born in 1606, became a commoner of Oriel College, Oxford, in 1623, and proceeded B. A. in 1626; he then left Oxford and would seem to have been curate at Quainton, Buckinghamshire, where on 2 Dec. 1627 he married Margaret, the daughter of Richard Brett, D.D. [q. v.], rector of Quainton. Entries of the death of Downing's mother in 1630, and of the births of a son and three daughters in 1628-30-1 and 1636, are in the register at Quainton. In 1630, having entered at Peterhouse, Cambridge, he proceeded M.A., and in 1637 LL. D. In 1632 he was made rector of Ickford, Buckinghamshire, and about the same time of West Ilsley, Berkshire, and was an unsuccessful competitor against Dr Gilbert Sheldon for the wardenship of All Souls' College, Oxford. He published at Oxford in 1632 'A Discourse of the State Ecclesiastical of this Kingdom in relation to the Civil;' this he dedicates to William, earl of Salisbury, signing himself 'Your observant Chaplaine.' A second edition appeared in 1634. In 1637 he resigned West Ilsley for the vicarage of Hackney, London. According to Wood, he 'was a great suitor to be chaplain to Thomas, earl of Strafford, lord-lieutenant of Ireland, thinking that employment the readiest way to be a bishop; and whilst he had hopes of that preferment, he writ stoutly in justification of that calling;' but by 1640 he had changed his views, and in a sermon preached before the Artillery Company of London on 1 Sept. of that year he affirmed that for defence of religion and reformation of the church it was lawful to take up arms against the king. 'A Letter from Mercurius Civicus to Mercurius Rusticus,' published in 1643, declares that Downing was instigated on this occasion by the puritan leaders 'to feele the pulse of the Citty,' and that after preaching the sermon he retired privately to the house of the Earl of Warwick at Little Lees, Essex, 'the common randevous of all schysmaticall preachers.' Wood adds that he became chaplain to Lord Robartes's regiment in the Earl of Essex's army. On 31 Aug. 1642 he preached a fast sermon before the House of Commons, in consequence of an order made in the previous July; and on 20 June 1643 he was appointed by parliament one of the licensers of books of divinity. Wood states further that in 1643 he took the covenant and was made one of the assembly of divines, but left them and sided with the independents. He resigned Hackney in 1643, and died suddenly in 1644. Besides the treatise and sermons already mentioned, he published: 1. 'A Discoverie of the False Grounds the Bavarian party have layd, to settle their own Faction and to shake the Peace of the Empire, considered in the Case of the Deteinure of the Prince Elector Palatine, his Dignities and Dominions, with a Discourse upon the Interest of England in that Cause,' 1641; this is dedicated to the House of Commons. 2. 'Considerations towards a Peaceable Reformation in Matters Ecclesiastical,' 1641. 3. 'The Cleere Antithesis, or Diametrall Opposition betweene Presbytery and Prelacy; wherein is apparently demonstrated whether Government be most consonant and agreeable to the Word of God,' 1644.

[A Letter from Mercurius Civicus to Mercurius Rusticus, Brit. Mus. Library; Lipscomb's Buckinghamshire, i. 282, 435 (but Ann Brett is wrongly stated to be Downing's mother on p. 282); Athenae Oxon., ed. Bliss, iii. 105 (but Wood quotes from pp. 81-2 of the third part of T. Edwards's Gangraena a story of Master Downing, which in Edwards's book is dated 1646, which makes us suspect that the third Calybute Downing, baptised at Quainton 1628, may have been confounded by Wood with his father, the vicar of Hackney); Newcourt's Repertorium, i. 620; Fosbroke's Gloucestershire, ii. 536; Robinson's Hackney, ii. 158; Laud's Works (Lib. of Anglo-Cath. Theol.), iv. 298; Commons' Journals, vols. ii. and iii.]

From: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Downing,_Calybute_(DNB00)

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Calybute Downing (1606–1644) was an English clergyman, a member of the Westminster Assembly. Also a civil lawyer, he is now remembered for political views, which moved from an absolutist position in the 1630s to a justification of resistance to authority by 1640, within a contractarian setting.[1]

He was son of Calybute Downing of Sherrington in Gloucestershire, and Elizabeth Morrison née Wingfield who married in Dec. 1604 at Tinwell, Rutland [ref.DE2271/1 Tinwell, Rutland]. He was baptised 27 Oct. 1605 St. Andrews, at Northborough, Northamptonshire . He became a commoner of Oriel College, Oxford, in 1623, and proceeded B. A. in 1626; he then left Oxford and would seem to have been curate at Quainton, Buckinghamshire, where on 2 December 1627 he married Margaret, the daughter of Richard Brett the rector. In 1630, having entered Peterhouse, Cambridge, he proceeded M.A., and in 1637 LL. D.[2]

In 1632 he was made rector of Ickford, Buckinghamshire, and about the same time of West Ilsley, Berkshire, and was an unsuccessful competitor against Gilbert Sheldon for the wardenship of All Souls' College, Oxford. In 1637 he resigned West Ilsley for the vicarage of Hackney, London. According to Anthony Wood, he aimed at a chaplaincy to Thomas Wentworth, and so wrote in favour of episcopacy. In 1640, preaching before the Artillery Company of London on 1 September, he stated that for defence of religion and reformation of the church it was lawful to take up arms against the king. A Letter from Mercurius Civicus to Mercurius Rusticus (1643) comments that Downing on this occasion was acting for Puritan leaders to test opinion, and that after preaching the sermon he went to the house of Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick at Little Lees, Essex. Wood adds that he became chaplain to Lord Robartes's regiment in the Earl of Essex's army.

On 31 August 1642 he preached a fast sermon before the House of Commons; and on 20 June 1643 he was appointed by parliament one of the licensers of books of divinity. In 1643 he took the Solemn League and Covenant and was made one of the Westminster Assembly; he sided with the Independents. He resigned Hackney in 1643, and died suddenly in 1644.

He published at Oxford in 1632 A Discourse of the State Ecclesiastical of this Kingdom in relation to the Civil; dedicated to William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury as from his chaplain. A second edition appeared in 1634.

He published also:

• A Discoverie of the False Grounds the Bavarian party have layd, to settle their own Faction and to shake the Peace of the Empire, considered in the Case of the Deteinure of the Prince Elector Palatine, his Dignities and Dominions, with a Discourse upon the Interest of England in that Cause, 1641; this is dedicated to the House of Commons.
• Considerations towards a Peaceable Reformation in Matters Ecclesiastical, 1641.
• The Cleere Antithesis, or Diametrall Opposition betweene Presbytery and Prelacy; wherein is apparently demonstrated whether Government be most consonant and agreeable to the Word of God, 1644.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calybute_Downing

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Richard Brett (1567–1637) was an English clergyman and academic. During the translation of the King James Version of the Bible, Brett served in the "First Oxford Company", responsible for the later books of the Old Testament

Etc.

He died in Quainton on 5 April 1637, aged 70, and is buried in the chancel of Quainton Church, which he served for 43 years. Over his grave a monument with his effigies and a Latin and English epitaph was erected by his widow. By his wife Alice, daughter of Richard Brown, sometime mayor of Oxford, he left four daughters, of whom Margaret married Calybute Downing in 1627.[1]

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Brett

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• The General biographical dictionary: (1812)
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• DOWNING (Calybute), an English divine, the eldest son of Calybute Downing of Shennington, in Gloucestershire, gent, was born in 1606, and in 1623 became a commoner of Oriel college, Oxford, where he took one degree in arts. His master's degree, according to Wood, he took at Cambridge, or abroad ; after which, entering into orders, be held the vicarage of Hackney, near London, with the parsonage of Hickford, in Buckinghamshire. But these not
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• being sufficient for his ambition, he stood in competition with Dr. Gilbert Sheldon for the wardenship of All soul's ; and losing that, was a suitor to be chaplain to the earl of Strafford, lord lieutenant of Ireland, thinking that road might lead to a bishopric. But failing there also, he joined the parliament party, and became a great promoter of Iheir designs ; and in a sermon preached before the artillery-company. Sept 1, 1640, delivered this doctrine: "That for the defence of religion, and reformation of the church, it was lawful to take up arms against the king ;" but fearing to be called in question for this assertion, he retired to the house of Robert earl of Warwick, at Little Lees, in Essex. After this he became chaplain to the lord Robert's regiment, and in 1643 was one of the assembly of divines ; but died in the midst of his career, in 1644. He has some political discourses and sermons in print, enumerated by Wood. He was father of sir George Downing, made by king Charles IL secretary to the treasury, and one of the commissioners for the customs.
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