MarginaliaAn. 1556. Aprill.How agreeth the temple of God with Images? &c. And ye are the temple of God, as God saith: I wyll dwell among them, walke among thē, and will be their God, and they shall be my people. VVherefore come out from among them, and separate your selues, (sayth the Lord) and touch no vncleane thing: so wyll I receaue you and wyll be a father vnto you, and ye shall be my sonnes and daughters, sayth the Lord.

Thus myne own bowels in the Lord, as I began, so make I an end, bidding you beware of your enemies, & take vp your crosse and follow your captaine CHRIST in at the narrow gate here by persecution, and then you shall bee sure to raygne and reioyce with him in hys euerlasting kyngdome, which he him selfe hath purchased with his own most precious bloud: to whom wyth the father and the holy ghost be al honour both now and for euer. Amen.

By me William Tyms.

¶ An other letter of W. Tyms, with an exhortation to all Gods faithfull seruauntes to eschue the societie of Idolaters, and Gods enemies.  

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This letter was printed before 31 January 1555.

MarginaliaAn other letter of Will. Tyms to Gods faithfull seruaunts.GRace be with you, and peace from God the father, and from the Lord IESVS CHRIST.

I thanke my God with all remembraunce of you always in my prayers for you, and pray with gladnes, because of the felowship which ye haue in the Gospel, from the first day that I knew you, vntill this day: and I am surely certified of this, that he which hath begon a good worke in you, shall go forth with it vntill þ^e day of IESVS CHRIST, as it becommeth me to iudge of you: whom I haue in my hart, and as companions of grace with me, euen in my bondes. And thus I pray, that your loue may increase more and more in knowledge. Good brethren I most hartely desire of God, that as you haue a willyng mind to cōfort my vile earthly body in this tyme of persecution, so he will strengthen you with his holy spirite, that my prisonement do not discomfort, but rather strēgthen and cōfort you, to see the goodnes of God shewed vnto me, in that, beyng a man without learnyng, and brought before three such Bishops concernyng wordly wisedome, hee gaue me both mouth and wisedome: MarginaliaB. Boner went away frō Will. Tyms, belike not able to make his party good.in so much that the Bishop of Lōdon went away in a great hast from me, and after that, he sent his man with a Bible, turnyng to the ix. chap. to the Heb. and the Bishop of Bath lookyng on it, sayd: What meaneth my Lord: this maketh nothing for his purpose. Then I looke on it and said: my Lord seeth that I was weake & therfore he hath holpen me: for here he hath condēned the sacrifice of your Masse: For you say that you offer a daily sacrifice in your Masse, both for the quicke and the dead: and here Paule saith: MarginaliaHeb. 9.VVithout bloudsheding there is no forgiuenes of sinnes: therfore that is here condemned. He aūswered: Yea, saith hee so? So say all such heretickes: and so forth with many like argumentes: which my neighbours that heard thē: can declare: therfore I leaue them.

This haue I writtē that you should not be afeard: but call vpon God, for he hath commaunded vs to aske, and we shall haue: Seeke and you shall find, knocke and it shalbe opened vnto you. Also he hath commaunded vs to call one him in the day of trouble: and he hath promised to here vs. MarginaliaGod geueth mouth and vtterance to hys Saintes.Therfore if we haue not both mouth and wisedome at his hand, the fault is in vs, that we either wil not repent vs of our wickednes and amend our liues, or els we be vnfaithfull, and beleue not the promises of God: and so we our selues are the cause that this wisdome is lacking in vs. Therfore let vs repent and amend our liues, and God is merciful. And in any case, as I haue alwaies said vnto you since I first knew you, so say I now: beware of Idolatrie, and of your owne good intentes: if not, marke what hath followed vppon them that haue left Gods commaundementes, and done their owne good intentes. Remēber when the children of Israell had made them a golden calfe, did not God say they had marde all, and would haue destroyed them had not Moyses earnestly prayed for them? I let many other places alone that proueth the wrath of God to come vppon the people for Idolatrie: therfore as we will auoide the wrath of God, let vs kepe vs vnstained from it.

You haue examples out of the olde Testament, how loth the godly fathers were to be partakers with the wicked. And yet to see how little we regard it, it would make any christen mans harte to weepe. God sende vs more grace. First loke in the. xj. & xij. of Genesis. Abraham, because he would not bee partaker of their Idolatry, fled from the people of Caldea, beyng his natyue

coūtrey. Also in the. xix. of Genesis, Lot at the cōmaundement of the Aungels departed from Sodome, lest hee tarying with the Sodomites, should haue ben cōsumed with thē. MarginaliaWarning to come away from the wicked.In the xxj. of Genesis, Sara would not suffer Ismaell which was giuen to mocking, to keepe companye wyth her sonne Isaac, lest he also should become a mocker. Loke in Num. the. xvj. Moyses at Gods appointment, cōmaunded the people to depart frō the dwelling places of Chore, Dathan, & Abiron, lest they also should be al wrapped in their sinnes and to perish among them. so doe I, euen as Moyses commaunded thē þ^t they should not keepe company wyth those wicked people lest the vengeaunce of God should light on them, so doe I geue you warning that you should not keepe company wyth the Idolaters in their Idolatrous tēples, lest the wrath of God come vpon you to destroy you.

Loke what S. Paule sayth in his second Epistle and the vj. chapiter to the Corinthians: Marginalia2. Cor. 6.Set your selues (sayth hee) therefore at large, and beare no straunge yoke with the vnbeleuers, for what fellowship hath righteousnes with vnrighteousnes? what company hath lyght wyth darkenes? what concord hath CHRIST wyth Beliall? eyther what part hath hee that beleueth wyth an infidell? How agreeth the temple of God with Images? And ye are the temple of God, as sayth God: I will dwell among them and walke among them, and will be their God, and they shall be my people. VVherefore come out from among them, and separate your selues (sayth the Lord) and touch no vncleane thing.

Good brethren marke what commeth of keping company wyth the wicked. Syrach sayth: MarginaliaSirach. 13.he that toucheth pitch shall be defyled wythall: and hee that keepeth company wyth the proud, shall cloth hymselfe wyth pride. Euen so he that is familiar wyth Idolaters, can not bee vnstayned from Idolatry, except hee doe it to wyn them to CHRIST, as there be but a few that do: Yea it may not be where Idolatry is openly committed, as for an insample: Perer, so long as he continued wyth CHRIST and CHRISTES Disciples, he continued in the truth, preached the truth, confessed openly CHRIST to bee the sonne of the liuing God, and promised that he would not only go to prison, but also to very death wyth hym: MarginaliaWhat it is to be associate in ill company.but when he came once into the court into the Byshops house, he straight way was stricken with such a feare, that a poore maydē & simple ruffin (such a one as my L. of London hath, that said: MarginaliaA vile seruaunt of B. Boners.by Gods bloud if I meete wyth any of these vile heretickes I will thrust a narow in hym): whē Peter (I say) was amongst them, he denyed hys Master, and swore that he neuer knew hym, whom he before he came there, boldly confessed before all men: and agayne, after that he had repented hym of his wicked dede, he boldly preached to the beleeuing Iewes, MarginaliaAct. 12.commaunding them among other hys godly exhortations, to saue them selues from that vntoward generation. How many of our Priestes before this storme of persecution when the Gospell was freely preached, were bolde, and could say, they would dye rather then deny their Master? but when they come once into the Bishops houses, they preach CHRIST no more, but vtterly deny hym: therefore I pray God kepe them from thence, or els send them more grace and strength. It is needefull to pray: therefore, watch in prayer.

Paul, all the while he was among the Byshops, was a cruel persecuter, but after he was called of God from the Bishops, he became a true preacher: therfore God kepe all Christian men out of the handes of our Bishops. S. Paul in the xv. to the Romains, sayth: MarginaliaRom. 15.I dare not speake any of those thinges, that CHRIST hath not wrought by He saith also: MarginaliaRom. 16.I besech you brethren, marke them that make diuision, & geue occasions of euil, cōtrary to the doctrine that ye haue learned: & them auoyd, for they that are such, serue not the Lorde IESVS CHRIST, but theyr owne bellies, and with sweete and flatteryng woordes deceaue the hartes of the simple. Our Master CHRIST him selfe hath giuen vs warning which they be: for he hath set þ^e plaine marke on thē in the xxiiij of Mathew: MarginaliaMath. 24.If they say here is CHRIST or there is CHRIST, beleue thē not, sayth CHRIST. If they say, he is in the desert, go not forth. If they say, he is in the secret place, beleue them not. And I pray you, where can he be more secret then in so small a peece of bread? for my Lord of London like a lyer, sayd to me, that after the wordes be spoken, there remaineth neither bread nor wyne. Then I asked him what he sayd to Dauid, where he saith: thou shalt not suffer thy holy one to see corruption? how say you to that? Will not your Sacrament of the aultar putrifie or corrupt? MarginaliaB. Boner not able to answere to this place of Dauid.He aunswered, yes. I asked him, what it was that did corrupt, if there were neither bread nor wine. He aunswered and sayd, the ac-