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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62525	The duty and comfort of suffering subiects. Represented by Peter Talbot in a letter to the Roman-Catholiks of Ireland, particulary those of the city and diocese of Dublin	Talbot, Peter, 1620-1680.	1674 (1674)	Wing T115; ESTC R219689	8,394	12

Crosses aswell as Monks and Hermits Some Euangelicall Counsells and works of Supererogation are peculiar to the Ecclesiasticall state but God's Commandements are proper to all Christians I do not pretend that Lay-men are bound to sell their Lands and voluntarily embrace that Pouerty 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 Priuate Rights of such as enioy them by virtue of de Laws of the Land They may haue recourse to the Cours of Iudicature and to His Maty ' s Iustice and Mercy but not to any other Tribunal upon earth Though the ancient Practice of Gods Church bee a sufficient and most conuincing proof of this Truth yet it were not amiss to confirm it with a reason deduced from the particular auersion which God hath to Rebellion and Disturbers of Gouernment Soueraigns are the Images of God as wee maysay according to his Prerogatiue Nor does their Soul onely naturally resemble him as hee is a Spirit but their Soueraignty and Office represent him under a Ciuill or Politique notion as hee is Supreme Lord and Master of his Creatures As sure as hee is King of the whole Vniuerse so surely they are his Vice-Roys in their respective districts And can wee think that this Great King will look on those with any other eye than as on Traytors who disobey and rebell against his Vice-Roy Does not the Order of the world plainly inform us that euery Superiour Power resents the contempt of a Subordinate one as avilifying his own which instituted it and in virtue of which it acts Or can wee think that God is not more offended when we disregard him under that character and Title than when wee commit other Sins Do not wee 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 seuere punishments on the offenders But such Transgressions as touch their Supremacy or Power of gouerning are accounted Treason and punisht with the utmost of all Temporall Ills Death And this is the reason why Idolatry is so hainous in the sight of God because it dethrones him who is King of the whole creation and setts up an vsurper in his place to receiue that incommunicable honour which is so iustly and properly his Applying this then wee shall find that when subiects rebell 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 Soueraignty and are in that regard his Images as well as his Anointed and who so euer contemns the Image contemns the Prototype T is the known Doctrin of those of our Profession that wee ought to honour the former for the later's sake they onely therefore that hold no distinction between an Image and an Idoll may take an ombrage at this doctrin but the very grain and genius of our Religion obliges us to it strongly and leaues us no power to unrawell that ty of inviolable obedience to our Earthly Soveraigns which is so manifoldly interwouen in our very Christianity The summe of all is this that since Disobedience to our King necessarily implies a disobeying God 't is euidently consequent that wee can haue no more right to rebell against him than against God himself and that since God has so essentiall a hatred against sin as not to consent wee should commit the least veniall one though by so doing wee should conuert and saue the whole world how can it be imagin'd that hee will allow of so great a crime as rebellion upon any score euen of maintaining Religion or converting Souls much less upon that meer Temporall motiue of sauing or regaining an Estate And now Dearly-Beloued giue mee leaue to exhort you in Christ's name who is the Author and earnest Recommender of that best Soul-saving Virtue of Charity and in God's name as hee is the Soueraign Gouernour and Disposer of the Vvorld not to look with a maligning and spitefull eye upon your Protestant Neighbours as Vsurpers 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 Diuine Goodnes doing euer what is best for the spirituall good of his Creatures if they make right use of it his holy Intention was by permitting your Temporall losses to lay more effectuall 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 loue and honour them and pray for their Conversion which doubtles has been God's design in this great Revolution In doing which you haue God's own word and who would not take his security t' is impossible you should bee losers if you practise the doctrin you profess and wee teach If any of them bee harsh to you bear it patiently if charitable bee thankfull I know there are many of them pitty your condition and offer to compound for your claym notwithstanding their Possession and the Legality of their Title I know also that euery man is apt to conceit himself to bee the best Iudge of his interest but giue mee leaue who ought to haue no other but the good of your Souls and am equally concern'd for the Saluation of all to wish with all my heart you did agree and liue together in true Christian Brotherly Charity lest your Dissension cause your damnation as it must ineuitably if it arriue to that height as to break that most excellent virtue without which all others are dead as wanting that which onely giues life to all the rest and bear no fruit of merit towards the attainment of Heauen Vvhat a happy man should I esteem my self if by my prayers and endeauours 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 leaue the contentmens and conueniencies I at present enioy in the best Climate and Country of Christendom to liue in that less happy soil not so favorable to men of my profession I shall not value any inconveniencies if you giue mee the least encouragement by receiuing cheerfully and heartily my aduice in this present matter which concerns so neerly the good of your Souls and the peace of that Kingdome I flatter my self 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 my self as I hope I haue you by this letter for so Christian and meritorious a work Notwithstanding this only is my design I fear that if in order therunto I should once more implore and obtain with my Lord Lieutenants allowance a Iustice of the peace his warrant for securing a notorius malefactor though a Friar by profession falsely pretending papal priuileges 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 peoples charges under the name and pretext of Religious Nouices I fear I say if I should in a legal way indeuor to haue such scandals and seditions punished by the Kings authority it will be represented again to the Parliament of England as an exercise of foreign iurisdiction and be made the ground of an other persecution Howeuer I coniure you most earnestly that if any should endeauour to teach you any doctrin contrary to this which I giue here under my hand and am ready to seal with my blood you will look upon them as Vvolues whatsoeuer their profession or habit seem to be You haue had experience of som Preachers who pretend great zeal to God and the Kings seruice and yet at the same time Rebellion and Murthers were proou'd against them These are the men you must not giue ear to nor conuerse with lest you bee infected with their Doctrin and peruerted 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 Angell from Heauen should go about to persuade you that it is lawfull to molest your Protestant neighbors 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 giue them no credit but let them bee 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 aduantage of your sufferings which God's All-seeing Vvisedome ordaind them for In the Iargon of wordly language they are call'd Misfortunes but beleeue mee they are the same measures which the sweetly-contriuing Oeconomy of diuine Providence euer took to make his Seruants happy Be of good comfort then and reioyce that your names are writ in the Book ef Life nay bless ' God that you are thought worthy to imitate Christ's Example and that you haue the surest Marks of Predestination which are wordly Pouerty and Contempt But to haue their due and full effect of benefiting your Souls these sufferings must bee accompany'd with Patience and accepted as fauours 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 choyce rather of the last and pray and endeauour that both your selues and your posterity may rather remain in the condition you are reduc't to than seek to better it for the moment o● this life by hazarding that euerlasting Inheritance the loss whereof and of no other can possibly make you unfortunate The Peace of our Lord IESUS-CHRIST bee with you PETER TALBOT Patis May the 2d 1674.