Life
He was born at Treveilian in the parish of Llanrug, near Carnarvon, in 1589 or 1590, the son of a freeholder in the parish. His mother was a descendant of the house of Penmynydd in Anglesey. He matriculated from Christ Church, Oxford, on 15 June 1604. He was sent there by his uncle, but after his aunt took a dislike to him, his means of support were cut off.
Through John Williams, Williams obtained employment at Cambridge as a private tutor, and was admitted to Jesus College, where he graduated B.A. in 1605-6 and M.A. in 1609. He was incorporated M.A. at Oxford on 10 July 1610, graduated B.D. at Cambridge in 1616, and proceeded D.D. in 1621. He was ordained deacon by the bishop of Rochester and priest by the bishop of Ely, serving as curate at Hanwell in Middlesex. In 1608 he was presented to the rectory of Foxcott in Buckinghamshire by Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, and afterwards became lecturer at St. Peter's in Cheapside and at St. Paul's Cathedral for five years.
On 11 January 1611-12 he was instituted rector of St Benet Sherehog in London through the influence of his patron, John Williams, and resigned the rectory of Foxcott. He had strong high-church sympathies, which roused the dislike of the puritans, and after the appearance of his first publication, The Resolution of Pilate, they prevailed on John King, bishop of London, to suspend him in 1616. He was also bound over to appear at Newgate to answer the charges brought against him, but was discharged by Thomas Coventry (afterwards Lord Coventry), who estreated the recognisances of his accusers.
After his suspension, from which he was eventually released on appeal to the prerogative court, he resigned his living, retired for a short time to Cambridge, and, on his return to London, found friends in the archbishop of Canterbury, George Abbot, and in the chancellor, Sir Thomas Egerton, who presented him to the rectory of Llanllechid in Carnarvonshire. Here he became involved almost immediately in a dispute with his diocesan, Lewis Bayly, bishop of Bangor, a strong puritan, to whom his ecclesiastical views cannot have been acceptable. Bayly wished him to exchange his living for another, and, on his refusal, presented articles against him ex officio. Williams appealed to the court of arches, and Abbot came to his rescue, reprimanding Bayly, and giving Williams license to preach through several dioceses in his province.
Read more about this topic: Griffith Williams
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