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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A49408	Five sermons, preached before His Majesty at Whitehall, published severally by command, and now printed together, tending all to give satisfaction in certain points to such who have thereupon endeavoured to unsettle the state and government of the church by B. Lord Bishop of Ely.; Sermons. Selections	Laney, Benjamin, 1591-1675.; Laney, Benjamin, 1591-1675. Study of quiet.	1669 (1669)	Wing L342; Wing L351; Wing L352; ESTC R16949	80,355	196

taken by the whole Church after considering how hard or rather impossible it was for every one out of the Scriptures to work out to himself an assurance of the knowledge of as much as was necessary to salvation and with that a consent with the rest of the faithful who are commanded to speak and think the same things which cannot be done but in a certain form of words Such a form if not the same with S. Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the Apostles Creed the use whereof hath ever since continued in the Church to be a help to take heed what we believe The same course was of later times held by divers particular National Churches who weary with the insolence and domineering of their Sister at Rome did suo jure uti and provide for themselves which fell out in a time when the world was filled with Controversies and Disputes of Religion That the people might not be carried about with every wind of doctrine that blew from all corners it was their care and wisdom to compose a form of wholsome words in their several Confessions to be a rule what to hear Now following our Saviours advice you have reason to ask With what measure of Faith are these confessions to be received for Quis custodiet ipsum custodem What credit must be given to that which must be a rule how far we credit others That we mistake not They are not to be received with that faith which is due to Gods word or any thing out of it as necessary to salvation but with such as wise men would give to the means of setling unity and consent in matters controverted as the title of our Confession imports that is That they are Articles of Peace not Articles of Faith They make no new Religion or new Faith This by the way gives an easie Answer to the Papists hard Question as they think Where was your Religion before Luther Where was your Church before the 39. Articles We do not date our Religion from those Articles The Church of England I grant is call'd so from their Confession but by an accidental denomination i. e. It is that Church which for preservation of unity and peace in it injoyns nothing to be taught or heard for God's Word which is repugnant to them in the particulars there mentioned But for the essential denomination of our Faith whereon Salvation depends it is the Faith of God's Word summ'd up in the ancient Catholick and Apostolick Forms as is evident from our Constitutions and Practice For when any is received as a Member into the Church by Baptism the Laver of Regeneration no other Faith is required but that which is comprised in the Apostles Creed And when by a confession of our Faith and Sins we prepare to receive the other Sacrament of the Body and Blood of our Lord our Faith is that according to the ancient Nicene Creed And in the Office of Visiting the Sick the Absolution a comfort at all times and most of all when we give up our Souls into the Hands of God is not to be administred but to those that make confession as well of their Faith as of their Sins and that Faith is only according to the Apostles Creed Thus are we born nourish'd and dissolv'd by the same Faith according to the ancient Catholick and Apostolick Forms A Faith of this age neither ought they to reproach nor we to be asham'd of To return to our particular Church Confession it hath another end and use they are Articles of peace and consent in certain Controversies to instruct and help us to take heed what we hear But it will not be so taken by all for the Churches Remedy is the Sectaries Disease who complain That by this means the liberty of the Spirit and of the Conscience are penn'd up in those Forms and which is a worse mischief if it were true a binding of God's Word which ought to be free But for that God's Word neither is nor can be bound The Forms are no more but the gathering together some of those Waters which flow all over the Scriptures into a stream to fit them for the ease and use of all But they say they take a better course to fetch all from the Fountain The Fountain indeed is purer but I see no reason why the Water should be purer in their Pitchers than in the Churches Stream seeing both claim immediately to the same Fountain They say again That these Forms are no better than snares to hinder many a painful Preacher of the Gospel They would seem careful to unbind God's Word but I see it is to set themselves at liberty As for painfulness in Preaching if it be not to some good purpose I shall not much reckon upon The Pharisees compassed Sea and Land but it was to make Pharisees Proselytes of their Faction not of Religion Nay but they preach the Gospel The Gospel is a glorious Word but what Gospel A Gospel you may perhaps have enough of and too much S. Paul informs Timothy of perilous times to come when men will be lovers of their own selves covetous boasters proud blasphemers without natural affection truce-breakers false accusers incontinent fierce despisers of those that are good traitors heady high-minded How think you comes it to pass that there should be such a general Apostacy was it not for want of preaching They had no Sermons or perhaps no great affection for them they were some cold hearers that were content with one Sermon a day No that was not the matter if we read on to the next Chapter we shall find they had hearing enough for they were such as heap'd to themselves Teachers and so had heaps of Sermons and affection for them too for they had itching ears What was it then They could not away with sound Doctrine but would have Teachers after their own lusts they had the Gospel in plenty but it was Evangelium 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after their own lusts not of sound Doctrine But what is sound Doctrine S. Paul doth not say here because a little before he had given Timothy a form of it Keep the Form of sound words which thou hast heard from me and because their Gospel did not agree to that he chargeth him to avoid it So should we do too with such a Gospel as will not stand within our form of wholesom words Or if it be such as was preached here for twenty years together we have little reason to be fond of it or any pains that is taken about it If they will not hear the Churches Gospel what reason hath the Church to hear theirs To end my first point If it was wisdom in St. Paul to commend a form of words and in the whole Catholick Church to use one if the same was practis'd by every reformed Church and all that people might with peace and security know what to hear I do not

Five Sermons Preached before His MAJESTY at WHITEHALL Published Severally by Command And Now Printed together tending all to give satisfaction in Certain Points to such who have thereupon endeavoured to unsettle the STATE and Government of the CHURCH By the Right Reverend Father in God B. Lord Bishop of ELY Nadab Abih u Offering strange fire Lev. 〈…〉 London Printed for Timothy Garthwait 1669. The Shepherd Or The PASTORAL CHARGE And OBEDIENCE due to it Instituted By God as a necessary means to preserve the Sheep from Straying LONDON Printed for Timothy Garthwait 1668. A SERMON Preached before His Majesty at Whitehall March 9. 1661. 1 PET. 2. 25. For ye were as sheep going astray but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your Souls THE condition of those in the Text both for what they had been once and for what they now were that is for their straying and returning again looks so like our case of late who if ever any had err'd and stray'd from all the ways of duty both to God and man but are now happily returned to the Shepherds and Bishops of our Souls you may perhaps imagine this Text to be chosen of purpose to pursue those two Blown Arguments And therefore before I proceed farther it will be necessary to deliver you from those thoughts and perhaps that fear For though the mischiefs in the one and Blessings in the other be such as deserve never to be forgotten yet possibly may not endure a perpetual importunate Remembrancer And the truth is the very words and phrase of the text which only at the first blush carries us upon those thoughts will leave us if we look a little nearer to them For the Straying here will prove to be of another kind and the Return will be found to be to another Bishop The straying here was of such as had err'd like Sheep whereas ours had little or nothing of the Sheep in it save the Sheeps clothing for dress'd up they were with pretenses as soft as wool Gods glory Purity of worship Christian liberty nothing worse then these and so indeed they err'd like Sheep as if they had been such but the truth is it was liker the ranging of Wolves tearing and devouring then the straying of weak and silly Sheep And for the returning likewise here though it was to a Bishop yet I dare not be so bold with him that bears that name in the text directly to apply it to our Bishops nor advance our return to this The Bishop here was no doubt our blessed Lord and Saviour whom God himself had consecrated and ordained to that office but our Bishops are not otherwise concerned here then as they can make their title from and under him but if that may be done hereafter I trust you will not be against it In the mean time if there were no more in it me thinks this should be enough to reconcile the Presbyterians to the name of a Bishop which our Saviour himself hath vouchsafed to take upon him But having laid aside that argument which the words at first sight seem'd to offer I bespeak your attention to one of a more common interest which concerns all that would be Christians whose character it is Who from the ways of sin and error are return'd to the faith and obedience of our Lord Jesus Christ who to reduce us from those ways hath taken upon him to be our Shepherd and Bishop The main point is That God of his mercy complying with the necessities and infirmities of nature hath erected an Office of trust and confidence in his Church under the quality of a Shepherd and Bishop to direct and guide us who otherwise would erre and stray like sheep and so be lost for ever THe particulars incident to this are first The necessity of it impli'd in our natural condition who like Sheep are of themselves apt to erre and go astray 2. The accommodation we have for it For what should they do which are out of the way but return and to whom should Sheep return but to a Shepherd and lost Sheep but to him that came to seek and save that which was lost and where should they find so safe and sure a retreat as in him who purchas'd them with his own blood All these are accomplished in our blessed Lord Jesus Christ whom we shall consider first in his office of Shepherd or Bishop then in his Flock or Diocess the Souls of men We are returned c. THe first thing we meet with in the text is our natural condition That we were as Sheep that had gone astray And the confession of this is the first thing we meet with in our Liturgy We have erred and stray'd like lost Sheep And though it were fit and necessary it should be there for sure I am we never err'd worse then since we laid that by yet here we look upon it in another relation and use it is the first stone to be laid in this building in the erection of the office of a Shepherd and Bishop The infirmities of the Sheep are the ground of the necessity of a Shepherd But now that while we are speaking of our errors we do not commit one we must know first what kind of erring this is and then how we fell into the fatal necessity of it What it is the Bishop that must lead us out of it will tell us for he is the Bishop of our souls and therefore our Straying here must be that of the Soul For though our natural infirmities do expose us to error in many things else yea almost in all other things even those that are within the reach of sense and reason there is not any thing in Nature in Art in Philosophy though commonly received for truth which of late time is not charged with error and it may be sometimes not without cause yet without any great regard here if the Sould be not concern'd Now if we be so liable to error in the things of this life where both the end and the way to them are within the compass of the eye in which we erre as it were in our own Countrey where we are bred and born we must certainly lose our way where we are strangers being Citizens of another Countrey as those blessed Saints who best knew the ways of the soul confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims here Heb. 11. 14. And they which say so shew plainly that they seek a Countrey and that a better that is a heavenly where God hath prepared for them a City They must needs be disappointed that seek for Heaven upon earth where there is nothing sitted and proportion'd to the Soul either for the nature or the desires of it The Soul is immortal and cannot be provided for where all things are liable to change and mortality for when it shall survive them it will be at a loss till it find a Countrey like it self that is everlasting and immortal And as the

our selves to go no farther then this present time Lent if there were any thing left of it among us but the name charges the soul by prayer and fasting to fit and prepare it self to meet our Lord at the Resurrection When we plead our constitution and health against it it shews we are no ill Curates of our bodies whatsoever we be of our fouls Yea that which hath a better title to be our souls will not lie within this Cure the intellectual and principal part of the soul and the inriching it with the knowledge of Arts and Sciences speculative and practick by which all our affairs and the greatest of all the affairs of the world are governed which employ the souls best vertues and indowments and for which none but great and noble souls are fit Yet this is not the soul for which Christ died and is to be our Cure For when we have gained this and all the world besides we may lose our souls The Holy Ghost takes no other notice of these then as if they were but bodies and indeed for their continuance they are no better for they perish with our bodies the greatest wits and wisest conduct lie buried in their dust with them nor will they appear again for us in that world where the soul is most concern'd In a word the Scripture owns no losing or saving to the soul but in that condition which must live and continue for ever Nothing is worthy that name that is not immortal Yet I must recal my self when I said these mortal souls that is in their temporal condition are not within our Cure to get it may be not but to use they are The meanest of them all our Saviour expresly commits to our charge Make you friends of unrighteous Mammon that they may receive you into everlasting habitations Things everlasting are proper for the soul And if you shall make you friends likewise of your honours powers and knowledge for the advantage of Gods honour and service certainly they will do as much for you as Mammon can For thus these mortals do put on immortality these corruptibles do put on incorruption You may in this sense make a soul out of your bodies by the chast sober and temperate use of them And so our bodies and all else become the proper Cure of our souls and in the discharge of that care we may expect the blessing of good Shepherds as well as that of good Sheep And when the chief Shepherd shall appear ye shall receive a crown of Glory that fadeth not away Two SERMONS Of PRAYER to GOD and Of HEARING his WORD Preached at WHITEHALL before the KING in LENT By the Right Reverend Father in God B. Lord Bishop of ELY To rectifie some mis-understanding through which the Use and Benefit of Two Necessary Parts and Duties of Religion is much perverted Are by Command now published London Printed for T. Garthwait 1668. A SERMON Preached before His Majesty at Whitehall April 5. 1663. Heb. xiii Verse xv By Him therefore let us offer the Sacrifice of Praise to God continually that is the Fruit of our Lips giving thanks to His Name or Confessing to His Name as the Margin reads more agreeable to the Greek WE have an Altar in the Tenth Verse and in this we have a Sacrifice But what Altar and what Sacrifice for they are scandalous words For the Altar let that fall if the Sacrifice cannot support it But for the Sacrifice whereof we are now to treat it is I confess a word of offence because there goes under the name of a Christian Sacrifice that which our Church calls a blasphemous fable and dangerous deceit Should I leave you without any Caution upon that fear and danger in Sacrificing it would be to little purpose to offer at the commending of any For we are too often troubled more with words than what they signifie And therefore as the Orator adviseth when such a case shall happen Mitigandas esse prius aures somewhat must be said beforehand to remove a prejudice that will fall upon all that shall be said after That which the Article speaks of is the Sacrifice of the Mass wherein the Priests of that Sacrifice say That Christ himself is really sacrificed for the quick and dead And for want of this our Church is not by them allowed to have either Priest or Sacrifice 'T is true we pretend not to that Mystical Art and Chymistry to turn the Elements of Bread and Wine into the Natural Body and Blood of Christ by which alone they make themselves Priests and Him the Sacrifice I put in no claim therefore from this Text either to that Priest or this Sacrifice but yet to a right in both but both of another kinde For the Sacrifice the Text is clear and the Priest follows of course there can be no Sacrifice without him And it is as clear too That it is not the Sacrifice of the Mass though Christ himself be in it for 't is he whom we first meet with in the Text By him Here indeed he is but not in the quality of a Sacrifice to be offered as in the Mass whereof he is the Master but as a Mediator only It is not Him but By him we are to offer Now seeing we may be secure it is not that we might possibly fear let us see what it is we may safely and must necessarily perform We are first to offer a Sacrifice to God 2. That for the kind is Eucharistical not Propitiatory 3. The Matter of it is to be not the Fruit of our Fields or of our Flocks but of our Lips 4. Not every fruit that grows upon the lips but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lips Confessing to his i. e. Gods Name 5. This confessing here is not of him though that be otherwise necessary for he that denies him shall be denied by him but To him and that makes it a Sacrifice 6. It must be to Him and not to any Creature Saint or Angel Praise them we may but offer a Sacrifice of praise we must not 7. It is not a Sacrifice to be done at starts and upon occasions but continually a daily Sacrifice 8. It is to be offered by Him that is by Christs merits and mediation 'T is that which gives power and efficacy to this and all our services which would be nothing worth if we came in our own names Lastly You have the Reason why all this Therefore and that sends us back to the Twelfth Verse Wherefore Jesus that he might sanctifie the people by his Blood suffered without the Gate That he suffered for us and that he suffered without the Gate are the reasons why by him and why of us By him because by the sacrificing of himself he made our peace with God By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God for it And why of us Because he suffered without the Gate whither the Jews that were within the Gate

truth to inflame the affections with the love of it to support our endeavours in all difficulties and temptations To this assistance of the Spirit all the faithful have a right And though in this way the Spirit cannot deceive us yet we may be deceived in it because it never works but with us if we fail in what we are to do then that fails us And by this way not only private persons but publick Councels are governed To whom the Spirit doth not reveal the matter of their Decrees 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but by way of co-operation assists their indeavours to find out the truth from the proper Topicks of it the Scripture and Antiquity for so all the force of their decrees depends upon the reason and grounds upon which they are made For if any Councel might pretend to that other way of revelation sure that first famous Apostolical Councel might Act. 15. But that did not otherwise determine the matter in controversy then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 7. when there had been much debate and disquisition out of the Scriptures were the decrees made and sign'd accordingly It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us The Apostles and Elders were in joynt commission with the Spirit the same Lord that sent the Spirit sent the Apostles also and therefore no contradiction to be led by the Spirit and by the Shepherds too THE fourth and last leader which is brought in to avoid the Shepherds is the CONSCIENCE This is the Presbyterians strongest fort against Obedience If he can get his Conscience about him he thinks himself so safe that he may bid defiance to all Authority In the Commission of leaders I confess as I said the Conscience to be of the Quorum We are to do nothing without it and much less against it But then we must be sure we mistake not somewhat else for the Conscience Every disease and distemper of the mind causless scruple slight perswasion groundless fear is not the Conscience against which we are bound not to act The tender Conscience for which so much favour is pleaded may prove in some no better then a disease of the Soul a spiritual Splene For though it be good to be tender of offending God in any thing where it proceeds from the good temper and constitution of the soul which is the same constantly in all cases and is not affected or taken up for a purpose as the sturdy begger carries his arm in a string that it may be a Patent to beg and be idle You may know it certainly to be a disease if it comes upon us by fits and starts as to be tender of offending God when we obey men and not to be tender of offending God when we disobey them If they be not as tender of one side as of another as I never find them to be it is but a Paralitick Conscience that is dead of one side For tell him the Church commands it he presently shrinks and startles at it and well so for possibly he may sin against God But tell him on the other side that God commands obedience to those that rule over us it moves him not at all you may thrust a needle into his side and he feels it not It shews plainly the Conscience hath a dead Palsy on that side But a right and sound Conscience against which certainly we ought not to act is a constant and well governed judgment for not to amuse you as the manner is with frivolous distinctions and definitions of Conscience in this case the Conscience is nothing but every mans private judgment for he ought not to attempt the doing of any thing till he hath framed this judgment to himself that it is lawful for him to do it Now seeing our private judgment hath so great power and influence as to interrupt the course of publick it had need be a true and regular judgment As first It must not be arbitrary for that we think we have reason to decline in the publick Magistrate to govern by Will and not by Law Many a Conscience if it were well examined will prove to be nothing but will not judgement Every good judgment is upon a full hearing of the cause of both sides all evidences duly weighed and examined then resolves this is a Conscience against which we ought not to act though possibly it might prove to be erroneous yet for all that we must know that it doth not set us free from the guilt of disobeying our Governors And then this is all the benefit our Conscience will do us in case of error that it casts us into a necessity of sinning by obeying against our selves by disobeying against our Governors We shall do well therefore to take care that we make not every slight perswasion doubt or scruple a Conscience trusting to be discharged of our obedience by that which indeed binds it faster upon us for that is the very end and benefit for which is instituted the Pastoral charge that when we are so weak we can not safely trust our selves we may rely upon that unless we think it a good plea I am blind and therefore I will not be led I am weak and sickly and therefore I will not be rul'd by the Physitian Now to sum up all if not Reason nor Scripture nor the Spirit nor Conscience will discharge us of the duty we owe to the Church in the name of God let us not rashly fling away so great a blessing that in all our doubts and fears for our quiet and security we may have recourse to the Shepherds and Bishops of our Souls THis is the last point the Shepherds Flock or the Bishops Diocess the Souls of men And here we meet with another quarrel from the Presbytery That they may be sure to spoil the Bishops of all authority they take away their Diocess the cure of Souls that they may be Bishops sine titulo for Bishops they are not either of our bodies or estates And why not of our Souls Christ indeed the great Shepherd that purchased them may rule them but they are too precious for any other Shepherds to Lord over which they say is done by binding the Souls with Church-laws and censures which Christ hath set at liberty And thus they set up Christ against himself and Christian liberty against Christian duty S. Paul I confess doth earnestly press this point of liberty Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not intangled again with the yoak of bondage But what liberty It is not simply from obedience either to men or Laws for that were destructive to Humane Society as well as Religion What then is it It is no more then that Christians have a liberty not to be Jews I dare be bold to say this is all that can be made of it And the reason why S. Paul did so earnestly press it is evident The Jews that were willing enough to

entertain the doctrine of Christ yet were not so easily drawn to aprt with those Rites and Ceremonies to which they had been so long accustomed and upon so good authority To humour these Simon Magus and his Disciples set up a medly of both Religions that they might be Christs Disciples and Moses too Against this doctrine S. Paul sets himself especially in his Epistles to the Romans and Galatians If they have taken upon them to be Christians let them stand to that and not look back again to the flesh having begun in the Spirit For behold I Paul say unto you if ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing To claim from hence liberty from any other men or laws then the Jews they might as well say Christ hath here given them liberty not to be Christians For Christians we cannot be unless we obey the Laws and Government of those that Christ hath set over us To use our liberty in this case our Apostle in the 16. verse of this Chap. hath adjudged it to be no better then a cloak of malitiousness And for those Consciences which are so tender that every Church-law pinches and galls them they do without reluctance bind their own Souls Every private man can do that which we will not indure the Church should do He that promiseth any thing is bound in conscience to perform it though before he took that bond upon him he had his Christian liberty not to do it Before Ananias promised to sell his estate and give it to the Church he was free S. Peter told him so Was it not in thine own power Yet after that it was not in his power to make use of that liberty for his conscience was bound And if a promise may do this much more a vow or an oath If a man vow a vow unto the Lord or swear an oath to bind his Soul Numb 30. 2. the Soul may be bound he shall not break his word he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth If a man should be so unreasonable as to say his conscience may be bound by himself but not by any else Do not they themselves as their manner is in their Sermons bind over their hearers to answer for them at the day of judgment and what a heap and load of Sermons must then ly upon their Consciences though the truth is they bind none but themselves and that to repent for corrupting Gods Word and misleading the people into Faction Sedition and Disobedience to say no worse Let us seriously consider and compare that which they would avoid with that which they indeavour to set up in the room of it They would avoid first the power of the Church in her Laws and Censures as a domineering over mens consciences and a lording it over Gods inheritance But if they look upon it with an impartial eye they shall find all contrary nothing but moderation as first in the very stile of the Church that there might be no harsh words The laws by which they govern are not call'd laws but canons that is rules to guide rather then force 2. Church-punishments are not call'd poenae but censurae not that they are sweetned with good words only but with real benefit for they are not as temporal punishments ad vindictam but ad disciplinam for the amendment not revenge of sin 3. The temporal judge if not Soveraign cannot pardon the felony though he would The Ecclesiastical judge cannot but pardon though he would not Ecclesia non claudit gremium redeuntibus is a rule in the Court Christian The Church refuseth none that will return and repent There is no such rule in secular Courts that the thief or murtherer upon repentance may be pardoned And by Church-Canons in elder times it was deemed an irregularity to be present at a sentence of blood Not that it is a crime to be so but as the Canon speaks propter defectum lenitatis that nothing in them might seem to be of harshness or cruelty The highest and most terrible of all Church-censures of which men seem to be most impatient how harmless and gentle is it Excommunication If he be not guilty clavibus errantibus he is never the worse for it the bonds fall off themselves if he be guilty he may be the better for it if he will When S. Paul judged the incestuous Corinthian to be delivered unto Satan and this was thought to be Excommunication and somewhat more yet this was for his benefit for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit might be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus verse 5. What is there in all this that should fright us from our obedience But now let us see what on the other side they would set up in the room of this A liberty of Conscience forsooth from the fetters of laws that they might not serve God in bonds like slaves but freely That they may preach what they will and as long as they will That they may pray how they will and fast when they will That they may stand and kneel where and when they will Indeed a true arbitrary Will-worship instead of a lawful orderly serving of God a confusion of all But they hold themselves wrong'd to be charged with will-worship for that they do all by Reason and the Scripture and the Spirit Yet for all that pretense they are still under that charge because all these are at their own wills what sectary is there that with a wet finger cannot nay doth not challenge Reason the Scripture the Spirit and Conscience to be for him when he will And why do they allow these to guide them and not the Shepherds but because these are at their beck and will but the Shepherds are not And therefore because they cannot command them they would be rid of them that so they might without control Lord it as they will But I shall trouble you no longer with our Shepherds or their Adversaries but for a conclusion and caution reflect upon our selves for though Christ hath committed the cure of our souls to others he hath not taken it from our selves The Shepherds were given for a help to ease us in it not to ease us of it Every one may and must be by a concurrent care a Shepherd and Bishop to himself and then here I shall take leave only to put you in mind of your Diocess your Souls that ye be not our Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this Epistle that we mistake not our Cure for there be other things we have as great affection for as our Souls I wish we had not The rich glutton in the Gospel when he said to his Soul Soul take thine ease thou hast much goods laid up for thee c. sure he mistook his body for his Soul for there was nothing in his barns that could feed that This is no greater an error and mistake then we dayly commit