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17th Century Ireland - Peter Talbot (1620-1692)
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Email: info@searcs-web.com 17th Century Ireland - Peter Talbot (1620-1692) |
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Peter Talbot was born in Malahide, County Dublin. He was educated at a Jesuit College in
Portugal where he joined the Order of Ignatius in 1635. Talbot was ordained in Rome and
lectured in Antwerp. In 1660 he travelled to Madrid to announce Charles II's
restoration to the faith. Talbot travelled to Rome on a secret mission to the Pope before
going to England where he became the Confessor of Queen Catherine. Talbot was
subsequently banished from the English Court and returned to Antwerp where, on the death
of Archbishop Fleming of Dublin, he was appointed to the Dublin Diocese by Pope Clement IX.
He was consecrated Bishop in Antwerp in 1669 but it was several years before he
could journey in safety to Ireland. On his return to Dublin Talbot became embroiled in an
argument with
Oliver Plunkett
as to whether Dublin or Armagh was the superior
archiepiscopacy of Ireland.
Talbot published A Treatise on Religion & Government (1670) followed by
The Duty and
Comfort of Suffering Subjects and The History of the Iconoclasts (both 1674). In 1678 Talbot was arrested in Malahide, County Dublin on suspicion of being involved in a 'Popish plot' and was imprisoned in Dublin Castle alongside his old adversary Oliver Plunkett. Talbot was never brought to trial and died fourteen years later in the dungeons of Dublin Castle. Talbot was a prolific writer and is said to have written ninety-three books. This extract is from Talbot's tome A Treatise on Religion and Government first published in Antwerp in 1670.© The argument of this book, is liberty of conscience, which is the most reasonable of all liberties; it is the spiritual birthright of our souls, and the only human perogrative that cannot be forced or forfeited. Though our selves be slaves, our thoughts are free, and so much our own, that none but the searcher of hearts can know them. God himself doth not use violence against our opinions; when he commands us to change them, he doth not compel us by ignorance and penalities, but convinceth us by reason and miracles... If our pilots, and parliaments will be overruled by the loud and rude outcrys of the scum of the people, against toleration, or liberty of conscience; and will think it sound policy to condescend to their zeal, and raise Protestancy to the height of its principles, in particular to the purity of their justifying faith, which is of so great virtue, that it hath made regicides and rebels Saints in England, and Lords in Ireland; working in that miserable Kingdom stranger miracles, than are read of in the Gospel. It hath changed the very essence or nature of things, and defined innocency and noncency by such new notions, that Adam before his fall (had he been an Irish Catholic) would have been declared nocent; whereas every Protestant, however so guilty of rebellion and murder, is a child of grace and favour: No sin or crime must be imputed to him, his justifying faith saves and salves all; it hath turned a convention of Cromwell's Officers into a Cavalier House of Commons: and though it hath removed mountains, yet it hath removed the Irish nobility and gentry that had been active in the King's service, unto mountains; and deprived most of them (since the King's Restoration) of that small pittance which had been allowed to them by Cromwell in Connaught. It hath made the rebellious, and the Royal interest, one and the same thing, because forsooth, both are called English and Protestant interests; and for as much as Oliver and Henry Cromwell were English Protestants, it declared to be the King's interest that not only Cromwell's officers, but that himself, his son, and their trustees and assigns, ought to possess and enjoy Irish Cavaliers estates. In England also this 'justifying faith' hath wrought wonders; for though it hath not restored to one the ears he lost, and left on the pillory for his sedition, yet hath it restored him to such credit, that his word against Princes, Bishops and Catholic cavaliers, is like to be made the vote of the House of Commons: and another Presbyterian that formerly headed the rabble of London against the King, hath kindled such a fire in Parliament that can hardly be quenched without the blood of innocents. And truly I should admire that such a Cavalier Parliament as this is, doth not punish Presbyterian persecutors as French pensioners (for that by their perfection they will at any time not only destroy our trade but make the French King more popular, and his war against England more plausible than himself can effect by any other means) were I not satisfied, that it is not possible to curb the furious and mad spirit of Presbytery, without destroying the foundation of the Prelatick religion and all Protestancy policy. © Searc's Web Guide 1997-2008 |
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