The B. of Salisbury.The B. of Sarisburie.
pp. 335–33713 passages
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
The B. of Salisbury.
The B. of Sarisburie.
Here, M. Harding, I have purposely left out a great heap of your talk, not thinking it needful, to answer all your void words. Having no more regard, what ye say, it was no hard matter for you to call us Libertines, and to say, The Gospel, that we Preach, hath none other Substance, but Carnal Liberty, and Licentious Living. If ye had remembered, either y• City of Rome, where ye have been, or the Town of Antwerp, or Louvain, where ye now dwell, ye could not well, without blushing, have charged us with Carnal Liberty.
Here, M. Harding, I haue purposely leafte out a greate heape of your talke, not thinkinge it needeful, to answeare al your voide woordes. Hauing nomore regarde, what ye saie, it was no harde mater for you to cal vs Libertines, and to saie, The Gospel, that wee Preache, hathe none other Substance, but Carnal Libertie, and Licenceous Liuinge. If ye had remembred, either y• Cittie of Rome, where ye haue benne, or the Towne of Anwarpe, or Louaine, where ye nowe dwelle, ye coulde not wel, without blusshinge, haue charged vs with Carnal Libertie.
Our Wantons, and Fleshworms, for so it liketh you to call them, have been contented to forsake Fathers, Mothers, Wives, Children, goods, and Livings, & meekly to submit them selves to the extreme terror of all your Cruelties, and to yield their bodies unto the Death: to be starved for hunger: and to be burnt in Fire: Only for the name, and Gospel of Jesus Christ. Ye will say, as your wont is, when ye have nothing else to say, They died stubbornly in wilful error. Yet, I reckon, ye will not say, They died in great pleasance, or Carnal Liberty. It is a strange kind of Fleshly Wantonness, for a man to deny him self, and to take up his Cross, and to follow Christ. And yet is this the whole Substance of our Gospel.