THE DUTY AND COMFORT OF SUFFERING SUBJECTS.  
Represented by PETER TALBOT in a letter to the Roman-Catholiks of Ireland, particulary those of the City and Diocese of DUBLIN.  
Dear Beloved, in Christ.  
I Should be very sorry there were any just reason to believe that since my departure from that Kingdom any endeavours have been used to instruct you otherwise than I have done, as to the inviolable Duty and Obedience you owe to His Maiesty's Government, and the Laws you live under. And, though your former unanimous and humble acquiescence to my constant Doctrine in this particular will not permit me to have the least doubt of your loyalty and peaceable behaviour, yet, because Adversity is a strong Temptation, and temporal necessities the most forcible of all motives to our corrupt nature, I thought fit to arm your soul against all such assaults, by summing up in this Epistle the substance of what I have so often inculcated unto you by word of mouth in my Exhortations.  
I hope you remember that I always endeavoured to print this Great Truth lively in your Minds, that the Happiness of Man in this present state consists more in possessing the riches of a good Conscience than the conveniencies of this world: Good and Bad Fortune (as they call them) are but improper Nicknames and foolish Notions, if by that language be meant Riches and temporal Prosperity. 'tis the depraved condition of human nature which makes us affectionately covet and unresignedly resent the loss of such paltry trash; whose very Nature tells us ' 'tis of too base an alloy and of too mean and low a pitch of worth for a soul sprung from Heaven and winged by Christianity to fly at. The apprehensions we frame of our greatest and most important concerns of Eternity, and of the proper Means for its attainment, are so dim, for want of rendering our Faith lively by attentive consideration, that we are apt to miscall that Persecution which is indeed a sweet Providence of our Heavenly Father; and to imagine that Poverty and other Marks of Predestination are so many Misfortunes which make us miserable: Never considering from how good a hand they come, or indeauoring by Patience to make that excellent use of them for which they were intended, to wit the Salvation of our Souls.  
To confirm you there fore in these Truths, and to settle you steadily in the submission you own to the Laws of the Land, as well as in the Charity you are by Christ's sweet law obliged to bear towards your Protestant Neighbours and fellow-subiects, I will state your case worse than really it is, and suppose you were all driven to that utmost and worst extremity of begging your bread: I say, though you were reduced even to that starving condition, yet ought you not endeavour to better it by plotting or conspiring against His M. ty ' s Government, Person or Subjects; or by disturbing the peace of the Kingdom. You ought not, I say once more, do this and the reason why you ought not, is as evident as it is that you ought not to sin; to deny which Truth is to deny, not some one point or some few single truths, as do Heretics, but the whole entire Doctrine of Christianity, and the Common Light of Reason to boot. 
Rom. 13.  Read the Holy Scriptures, and you will find S. Paul tells us that Christians are bound in conscience to obey their Heathen Emperors; and that, who ever resisteth them, resisteth the ordinance of God; also, that by so doing they purchase to themselves Damnation? 
Matt 22.  Does not Christ himself command us to pay Tribute unto Cesar, 
〈◊〉 21.  the badge and token of our Temporal vassalage and Obedience? 
● Pet. 2.  Does not S. Peter bid us be subject to the King as having Preeminences?  
their attainment of Eternal Happiness.  
Did Mortals make sober and attentive Reflections upon the survivency of their Soul, and that the future condition which finally attends it, stretches its duration to an endless Eternity, their Reason, which Custom and Passion hoodwink, would readily discover how just it is to conform themselves to God's holy will in this particular, and even to take content in their afflictions, For, tell me, I beseech you, what is this world? Truth makes answer for you, and assures us all yt. 'tis only a Theatre of foolish and false shows: A short Comedy, or rather indeed a short Prologue of everlastlng sadness to such as take most delight in it. A perpetual Conflict between life and Death, Sickness and Health, Fear and Hope, joy and discontent. Again, what is an Inheritance? A parcel of land whereof our Ancestors were Masters as long as they lived; which term of Life (the only interest any of them could pretend to) is valued but at seven years' purchase: Is it reasonable than think you, to fix your hearts so unremovably and passionately upon that earth, as if your Souls were to turn into it aswell as your Bodies? Poor Souls! After â man's death he has no expectation of any good for his Temporal Estate, being quite out of all circumstances of enjoying the least conveniency from it. Nor has any separated Soul the least Concern for any worldly Inheritance, but those vahappy ones who having over-loud ' it here, feel the fond affection to such â perishable and fleeting Good, racking their wills with a bitter torment for the eternal loss of it. Nor last, do they concern themselves so highly for the Temporal Prosperity of their Children or Relations. No, no, the blinding veil is then taken from their eyes, and they see plainly, nay feel experimentally, that nothing is at all valuable but as it conduces to attain Heaven; and that neither Riches nos Poverty (but only virtue) are the proper Means to compass that happy End, both of them indifferent and unconcerning, and only good or bad, as they are well or ill made use of; but yet with this difference, that Riches are by far a more dangerous incitement to lull our souls with the love of this world, and deturn us from virtue: Nay even the damned Souls are wiser than to concern themselves with wislshing those Friends whom they retain a natural affection for, such trifling advantages. That rich man who so much enuyd ' the Happiness of Lazarus in Abraham's bosom, was not sollicitons for his brethren's worldly Interest, but for their instruction. which passage though it be a Parable, yet 'tis a most sure proof of the Folly of such as lament the loss of their Fortunes more than the loss of God's Grace, and are more concerned ' for acquiring or conserving an Inheritance in this world for themselves or their Relations, than for that of Heaven. what doth it profit a man to gain the whole Universe if his Soul in the mean time suffers any Detriment? And that soul suffers not only Detriment but Eternal Damnation, that will attempt to possess an Estate by so unlawful means as Rebellion against Superior Powers, and the Laws by them established.  
I remember one of the greatest Peers of Ireland (wentworth, late Earl of vildare) desired my opinion concerning the apparition of a Spirit which haunted him not long before his last sickness, and the advice it gave him. Some circumstances which were observed by his virtuous Lady and others as well as himself, made his story very credible to me: but his assuring that the spirit never recommended to him Repentance of his Sins, or reflections upon the Uncertainty of this world, or any other thing for the good of his Soul, and that it only exhorted him to mind Temporal affairs, and to restore his Family to its ancient greatness, made me suspect (as I told him) it was no good spirit that appeared to him; nay a worse one than that of Dives; for this desired that some would preach to his Brethren against the vanities of this world, that did the quite contrary. And, truly, a Spirit that would move men to restore their Friends and Families to the Seats and Splendour of their Ancestors by violating the Laws of the Land, must be of the same nature.  
Therefore Dear Beioned, I conjure you earnestly (as one who tenders your salvation as his own, and believes he must render to God an Account for your Souls) to bear with Patience this Cross which Christ has shared with you. Faint not under so light â Burden; he carries the heaviest part: He was innocent, you are guilty; He submitted himself voluntarily, you must suffer avoidable. Be spiritually wise then, and make a meritorious virtue of this happy necessity. Let not the vain hopes of better Times, or the desire of passing a short Moment some thing more commodiously plunge you in to the intolerable miseries of Hellfire for all Eternity. Lose not the solid Substance of true Happiness for an eyrie shadow; the fruits of Faith for a groundless Fancy. You have lost your real Estates, let not Imaginary ones fool you out of your Duty and the recompense which God has promised such as will patiently expect it. Resist manfully against those deceitful temptations, and build not Castles in the air. I say deceitful; for of all Temptations Hope, if not well grounded, is the most dangerous: In others, a man runs the hazard of being deceived by the Devil and out ward appearances; but when he has once entertained Hope, both ungrounded and also of false Goods, he will most certainly be deceived by himself; and the more, by how much he is in this case confident and assured that he intended himself no prejudice, but an advantage. Against the fair words and promises of others we are armed by the suspicions and cautions wherewith nature and Experience has furnished us: but against that fair prospect of distant Goods within our view, where with we please and entertain our thoughts, represented rather by our fond wishes than by any probability of relief, there is no defence. wisdom is naturally the safest Guard against such an inbred Enemy lying in a close ambush in our own breast; but (alas!) those inordinate affections to worldly things paint them to our deluded Imagination in such gay and lively colours of Hope, and so easily attainable, when there is no such thing, that the wholesome Maxims of wisdom are stifled in our passion, and Folly (which now has got the rains) drives the will blindly head long into the dangerous precipice of over-late and fruitless Repentance. That therefore which I principally aim at, is, to root out of your hearts this delusive Hope, as the chiefest obstacle of our happiness in the next world, and of our content in this; which is apt to entice whole nations to their ruin, and lastly, is the most moving Temptation to make weak Souls break the best Orders of the world, and infringe the most sacred Laws of Christianity and Conscience.  
You will say that were it not for Hope, Heart Would break: Nor will I deny that Christian Hope is the most comfortable cordial for afflicted souls; That Hope, I say, which is grounded upon Divine Faith of an everlasting Inheritance: Hope that does secure as well as promise possession: Hope that makes us despise all Temporal Happiness, and erecting the Soul to take her flight to wards Heaven, makes her at her taking her rise, spurn the subject Earth. Let this Hope replenished with all solid satisfactions, be your comfort, not that empty one of possessing estates already disposed of, whose flashing glimpses has dazzled your eyes, and deluded you for so many years. Do but lay it once to heart how great the disproportion is between a Temporal and an everlasting Inheritance, and it will quickly cheer up your Spirits, and wean your wills from that fond propension we are still apt to retain to what was once our own, though we know it could never long continue so. The longest liver that ever was since the Creation, did not arrive to enjoy the world a thousand years; and, put case every man did so, yet it would signify little or nothing to such as still long to continue it, because the present time, (or to speak more properly, Instant) fills us but with sorrow for the time that's past, and with perplexity for the future. Those noble Souls who fix their Hopes and Thoughts upon Heaven, do from that height look down unmoud upon the vicissitudes of sublunary affairs, and the storms of subject Fortune; and 'tis only those weaker one's that degenerate from the Excellency of their spiritual Being, who are shocked with the loss of a piece of Land which God knows they had not right allowed ' them by the course of nature to enjoy above a moment: And that too such a moment, that on it E'ternity depends: A moment on whose well or ill ' spending is grounded the determination of our final and everduting state, either of Salvation or Damnation. Can we then be so stupid ' as to misspend this precious Moment, and the time which God's merciful Providence has allotted us to prepare for death, and purchase the Kingdom of Heaven, in sighing and soliciting for a pitiful parcel of earth; and that, because we hope to pass our days as our Ancestors did theirs, in more plenty and folly than now we can? This argues want of courage aswell as Christianity. Omne solum forti patria est, says the Roman Orator. If the constant man makes every Country his own, questionless a Christian ought not be so set upon any worldly Inheritance as to endanger his sure Title to Heaven and the eternal loss of his Soul for the enjoyment of so uncertain a Settlement.  
Perhaps some may conceit this doctrine too sublime for the Laity, and more proper for Monks and Hermits than for married men who are bound in Duty and Conscience to provide for their wives, Children and Families. Be not seduced, Dear Beloved, by such specious mistakes or false suggestions: The Laity is as much obliged to practise Christian Virtues as the Clergy, and married men ought to love their Neighbours and suffer patiently their own Crosses, aswell as Monks and Hermits. Some Evangelicall Counsels and works of Supererogation are peculiar to the Ecclesiastical state, but God's Commandments are proper to all Christians. I do not pretend that Laymen are bound to sell their Lands and voluntarily embrace that Poverty which Religious Orders profess; but I must maintain that they are obliged in conscience to submit to Providence, and to bear patiently the forfeiture of their Possessions, without disturbing the Publix peace or the Private Rights of such as enjoy them by virtue of the Laws of the Land. They may have recourse to the Cours of judicature and to His Ma.tie ' s justice and Mercy, but not to any other Tribunal upon earth.  
Though the ancient Practice of God's Church be a sufficient and most convincing proof of this Truth, yet it were not amiss to confirm it with a reason deduced from the particular aversion which God hath to Rebellion, and Disturbers of Government. Sovereigns are the Images of God, as we maysay, according to his Prerogative: Nor does their Soul only naturally resemble him as he is a Spirit, but their Sovereignty and Office represent him under a Civil or Politic notion, as he is Supreme Lord and Master of his Creatures. As sure as he is King of the whole Universe, so surely they are his Vice-Roys in their respective districts. And can we think that this Great King will look on those with any other eye than as on Traitors who disobey and rebel against his Viceroy? Does not the Order of the world plainly inform us that every Superior Power resents the contempt of a Subordinate one, as avilifying his own, which instituted it, and in virtue of which it acts? Or can we think that God is not more offended when we disregard him under that character and Title, than when we commit other Sins? Do not we see that it stands with good reason that sublunary Kings pass by some disrespects and indignities which reflect upon them in other regards, without inflicting very severe punishments on the offenders; But such Transgressions as touch their Supremacy or Power of governing, are accounted Treason, and punished with the utmost of all Temporal Ills, Death? And this is the reason why Idolatry is so heinous in the sight of God, because it dethrones him who is King of the whole creation, and sets up an usurper in his place, to receive that incommunicable honour, which is so justly and properly his. Applying this than we shall find that when subjects rebel against their King or his laws, they contemn God, who appointed them his officers to rule his world, according to his Attribute of Supreme Lord and Master; because Kings, as such, represent God's Sovereignty, and are in that regard his Images as well as his Anointed; and who so ever contemns the Image, contemns the Prototype; 'tis the known Doctrine of those of our Profession that we ought to honour the former for the later's sake; they only therefore that hold no distinction between an Image and an Idol may take an ombrage at this doctrine, but the very grain and genius of our Religion obliges us to it strongly, and leaves us no power to unrawell that ty of inviolable obedience to our Earthly Sovereigns which is so manifoldly interwoven in our very Christianity. The sum of all is this, that since Disobedience to our King necessarily implies a disobeying God, 'tis evidently consequent that we can have no more right to rebel against him than against God himself: and that, since God has so essential a hatred against sin as not to consent we should commit the least venial one, though by so doing we should convert and save the whole world, how can it be imagined that he will allow of so great a crime as rebellion upon any score, even of maintaining Religion or converting Souls, much less upon that mere Temporal motive of saving or regaining an Estate?  
And now, Dearly-beloved, give me leave to exhort you in Christ's name, who is the Author and earnest Recommender of that best Soulsaving Virtue of Charity, and in God's name as he is the Sovereign Governor and Disposer of the World, not to look with a maligning and spiteful eye upon your Protestant Neighbours as Usurpers of Estates, but as placed in Possession of them by the King who is God's Vicegerent, and consequently by God himself; as also to consider that the Divine Goodness doing ever what is best for the spiritual good of his Creatures, if they make right use of it, his holy Intention was by permitting your Temporal losses, to lay more effectual means for the salvation both of theirs and your own Souls. Consider that their Souls are by creation the Images of God as well as yours; for which reason alone, were there no other, you ought to love and honour them, and pray for their Conversion; which doubtless has been God's design in this great Revolution: In doing which you have God's own word (and who would not take his security), 'tis impossible you should be losers if you practise the doctrine you profess and we teach. If any of them be harsh to you, bear it patiently; if charitable, be thankful. I know there are many of them pity your condition, and offer to compound for your claim, notwithstanding their Possession and the Legality of their Title. I know also that every man is apt to conceit himself to be the best judge of his interest; but give me leave, who ought to have no other but the good of your Souls, and am equally concerned for the Salvation of all, to wish with all my heart you did agree and live together in true Christian Brotherly Charity, lest your Dissension cause your damnation; as it must inevitably if it arrive to that height as to break that most excellent virtue, without which all others are dead, (as wanting that which only gives life to all the rest) and bear no fruit of merit towards the attainment of Heaven. What a happy man should I esteem myself if by my prayers and endeavours I could contribute any thing to so pious a work, and so proper for one of my calling? what pains and dangers would I not undergo? How willingly would I leave the contentments and conveniencies I at present enjoy in the best Climate and Country of Christendom, to live in that less happy soil, not so  to men of my profession? I shall not value any inconveniencies if you give me the least encouragement by receiving cheerfully and hearty my advice in this present matter, which concerns so nearly the good of your Souls and the peace of that Kingdom. I flatter myself, and I hope, not vainly, with expecting your ready inclinations for so necessary à resolution, and so becoming persons of your principles: and therefore resting in this confidence I will make no farther delay, but prepare myself (as I hope I have you by this letter) for so Christian and meritorious a work. Notwithstanding this only is my design, I fear, that if in order thereunto I should once more implore and obtain with my Lord Lieutenant's allowance a justice of the peace his warrant for securing a notorious malefactor (though a Friar by profession) falsely pretending papal privileges, of not being questioned for his adulteries, rapes, sedition, exacting moneys by counterfeit Bulls as the supposed Vicar Apostoliks' Collector, and his Keeping a Community of vicious vagabonds, upon poor people's charges, under the name and pretext of Religious Novices, I fear, I say, if I should in a legal way indevor to have such scandals and seditions punished by the King's authority, it will be represented again to the Parliament of England as an exercise of foreign jurisdiction, and be made the ground of an other persecution.  
However I conjure you most earnestly, that if any should endeavour to teach you any doctrine contrary to this which I give here under my hand, and am ready to seal with my blood, you will look upon them as Wolves, whatsoever their profession or habit seem to be. You have had experience of some Preachers who pretend great zeal to God and the King's service, and yet, at the same time Rebellion, and Murders were proved against them. These are the men you must not give ear to, nor converse with, lest you be infected with their Doctrine and perverted by their Example. Hear and follow the Pastors who are answerable to God for your souls, not mercenary hirelings to whom the care of them does not properly belong. And yet if either these, or I, or an Angel from Heaven should go about to persuade you that it is lawful to molest your Protestant neighbours, or defraud them of their goods, or enter upon their possessions by any means or method which the Law of the Land doth not allow, give them no credit, but let them be to you as an Anathema. God of his mercy grant you light to see, strength to bear, and a truly wise Christian Prudence to husband and make that excellent advantage of your sufferings which God's Allseeing Wisdom ordained them for. In the jargon of worldly language they are called Misfortunes; but, believe me they are the same measures which the sweetly-contriving Oeconomy of divine Providence ever took to make his Servants happy.  
Be of good comfort then and rejoice that your names are writ in the Book of Life: nay bless ' God that you are thought worthy to imitate Christ's Example, and that you have the surest Marks of Predestination, which are worldly Poverty and Contempt; But to have their due and full effect of benefiting your Souls, these sufferings must be accompanied with Patience and accepted as favours from that hand, which alone can redress them here, or else will surely reward them hereafter: but it seldom does both. I hope you will be so wise as to make choice rather of the last; and pray and endeavour that both yourselves and your posterity may rather remain in the condition you are reduced to, than seek to better it for the moment o● this life by hazarding that everlasting Inheritance, the loss whereof (and of no other) can possibly make you unfortunate. The Peace of our Lord JESUS-CHRIST be with you.  
PETER TALBOT. Patis May the 2d 1674.