I would now have to write much, most holy father and most esteemed teacher, if either I were to render worthy thanks now for your singular humanity towards me and for so many benefits which I have now received over a long period of time and which I experienced in sufficient abundance either from dwelling with you sweetly or spending time with you usefully in your house or I were to describe at length, in keeping with the nature of the affairs and their novelty, all the things which are happening here and which you would especially want to know about. But those things I will omit, since your modesty was never in the habit of being concerned about them, provided it was clear what was happening to the souls of those who owe you the most, and I will keep those things in mind which I ought also to display in a letter. But as for these affairs or uproars at Frankfort which Satan has recently aroused among the English, with great risk for the whole church and very great trouble for souls, lest they grow together in pure religion and Christian concord – with them I would wish your piety to be fully acquainted, not only so that you might know for certain the condition of this church, but also so that you might understand that not everything is as it is said to be and as it was reported to you and that neither is this straightforwardness in the conduct of affairs to be found among those who wish and desire to seem to be so. But a still incomplete knowledge of events and plans will not permit me to report everything the way I should like to. I will nevertheless report a few things of those matters which have been sufficiently examined and are well known to me.

When I was still with you a number of false rumours were being spread about certain brethren here to the effect that they despised our little English book¹Though it is slightly over-translating, I am representing libellus as ‘little book’, to make a distinction with liber. Goodman can in fact use the two words interchangeably. [libellus] and regarded it as impious and condemned. I know indeed that these rumours filled the ears of your piety – and mine, especially during my journey and on the road, through the lies of certain people who met us and would have set out for Argentina [Strasbourg] with letters if they had not happened to meet up with us. For they reported these and other things far worse, deeds of the same sort and stitched up lies, as I discovered without doubt when I came here. For there is no one of all those who long from the heart for the true and simple worship of God, with superstitions cut out, who used such words or wanted the little book to be rejected with any feeling of contempt for it. Indeed, all in these parts²Harum partium could also mean ‘who belong to these groups’. with whom I have spoken to date (for I have met many if not all) recognize and declare openly that it was a singular gift of God that they extracted this little book against the wishes of the Papists and in the midst of so many enemies hostile to true piety and religion who opposed our people and caused trouble in this English reformation. And they seek and have always sought that those things in it which are superstitious and impure and which do not befit churches properly set up – that those things be taken away and that in their place there be substituted things which can be recommended and defended by the word of God. In this matter they did not follow the counsels of real lightweight or ignorant people – as it pleases some folk to babble on in the spirit of a lie rather than the truth – but the counsels of Calvin and others whose letters I have read and whose judgement I cannot but approve. By them in the beginning of establishing a church which still seems to be free most careful thought was taken that nothing superstitious or impure be admitted, though our adversary the devil always has such tares at hand to be scattered into the field of the Church and he is far more ready and more skillful at pouring them out than we are able or careful at fending them off. One group, led by their counsel and by other just arguments, [p. 51] reckoned that the little book was not to be taken up again unless it was cleaned up. But another group judged that it was quite perfect and pure and had no need to be cleaned up. But at last it was agreed between the two groups – and that, as I hear, on the advice of Dominus Lever³Thomas Lever = Garrett no. 271. – that our people (for I wish rather to be counted in their number) should put together some form of words to be retained in church for common prayers and other rites and those of the other group should get their form of words together.

When our people had studiously done this – not without hard work and the expenditure of time – a copy, as it had been agreed, was displayed for examination by the whole church. And none found fault with it when it had been so displayed. Our people kept asking in turn that the other group should show a copy of their collection. Then Dominus Lever snatched our book and read from it and from nothing else the things he wanted to be observed and retained. The book was in no way changed, nor did he extract the things he wanted or reduce them to order, nor did he want the things that had been torn out and extracted in this way to be printed in any one book to avoid confusion on the part of the readers. Since this business did not satisfy the expectation of the majority nor was any concession made, a greater disturbance arose – so much so that one of the magistrates heard this dispute and entered the sacred sanctuary where our people had at that time come together, and, when the matter had been thoroughly investigated, forced upon them the French liturgy, which many of our people found fault with. But it had been approved and recommended by Dominus Cox, and, that they might at last put an end to their quarrels, he instructed all not to use any other; otherwise he would bring it about that those for whom he had before opened a temple would find it shut as they quarrelled with each other, nor would any place in the city be left for them. Meanwhile, that good man and pious preacher and minister of our people, as you know, since he had very often said in preaching that many things still remained to be corrected in this our little book – some impure and superstitious things which a church that was well and piously set up could not admit without offence and scandal – and that he was prepared to demonstrate this to anyone, this their own pastor, whom they had before called to themselves in a letter subscribed with their own hand, they accused before the magistrate of treason against the Emperor and Mary. And at last things reached the point that had not the wisdom of the magistrate, which sniffed out the malice of the accusers, come into play, he would certainly have undergone the risk of capital punishment and would not now have had any place to escape to that was granted by them. This matter offended the spirits of all who have some judgement or piety left as nothing else has. Indeed some are afraid of experiencing the same cruelty from these defenders of superstitions that the Papists now practice in England. But enough about this, since the present messenger will reveal to your prudence everything in order. But as to what is to be hoped for now from our arrival here, yesterday’s meeting is able to show. For our people who came here – for you must be told the truth – cling so tenaciously to the little book that no concord nor any end to the quarrels is to be hoped for. For they want to concede nothing apart from vestments, genuflections at the reception of the sacrament, and the position of the priest at the north end and any other things there might be which neither the magistrates themselves nor the custom of the place permit. So that it is to be feared that as long as we live here we be forever subjected to an imposed French liturgy. Therefore, in order to check this obstinacy of theirs, since they allege nothing apart from the authority and esteem of those good men by whose work this book saw the light and an obstacle lest others flock together here and your opinion, which was, as our people report, displeased at the booklet in only the three matters which I enumerated, and since these things do not seem so great to wise men that other superstitious things in it should be retained or [p. 52] many good people who are here should either leave this city and flee to another or pass by so great an opportunity to correct or avoid superstition, I would ask your piety to take care lest through their persuasion you should seem, either to the learned now or to posterity hereafter, to have been the patron of any superstition.⁴In this final, very complicated sentence, Goodman turns rather harshly on Peter Martyr. The supporters of the BCP adduce only three arguments in support of their position: (1) the authority of those who compiled it (presumably all the greater now that Cranmer is a martyr); (2) the obstacle that rejecting the BCP would put in the way of building up the exile community in Frankfort; and (3) the fact that Peter Martyr is said to have objected to only three things in the Book. It is the last point which is the real issue here. To prudentes viri these three arguments do not seem sufficiently strong to justify either (1) – in general – the retention of the other elements of superstition in the BCP (which Peter Martyr has missed if the report is true) or (2) – in particular – putting boni multi in Frankfort in the position of being forced to choose between (a) abandoning Frankfort and finding another place of refuge or (b) losing a golden opportunity to purge the liturgy of superstition. The conclusion Goodman draws from all that is that he must try to take out the third argument of the supporters of the BCP by warning Peter Martyr against being taken in: his reputation – both now and for future generations – is on the line. Farewell.

Plura essent mihi iam scribenda Sanctissime pater atque praeceptor observandiss[ime]: si vel pro / singulari tua in me humanitate; et tot iamdiu acceptis beneficiis quae ex tam suavi coha-/bitatione et tam utili conversatione tecum in tuis aedibus abunde satis expertus sum, / dignas nunc gratias referrem: Vel ea quae hic geruntur quaeque in maximo scire opta-/res, fusius pro natura rerum et novitate omnia describerem. Illa autem, cum tuae mod-/estiae nunquam esse curae solebant, modo de animis illorum de quibus optime es meritus / constaret, praeteribo, et praesenti memoria semper conservabo; quae litteris quoque deberem / ostendere. Harum verò Frankfordiensium rerum ceu turbarum quas Satan nuper inter / Anglos ne in pura religione coalescerent et christiana concordia, cum magno totius ec-/clesiae discrimine et animorum summa molestia excitavit; tuam pietatem ad plenum / participem fieri optarem, ut non solum statum istius ecclesiae certo cognosceres, verum / et intelligeres, non ut referuntur et ad vos delata sunt, ita [mark before ita which I think is just a blotch] esse omnia: neque eam / simplicitatem in rebus agendis inter eos reperiri, qui tales videri volunt et cupiunt. Sed / omnia hoc pacto quo velim referre neque rerum consiliorumve imperfecta adhuc cog-/nitio patietur. Eorum tamen quae satis mihi explorata sunt et cognita pauca referam. / Cum essem tecum nonnulli falsi rumores de quibusdam hic fratribus spargebantur, / quasi libellum nostrum Anglicanum contemnerent, eumque pro impio et condemnato ha-/berent. qui quidem rumores scio, tuae pietatis aures impleverunt, at meas maxime in / itinere et via quorundam mendaciis qui nobis obviam dederunt, et Argentinam cum / literis profecturi essent nisi forte in nos incidissent. Hi enim et haec et alia longe / graviora retulerunt eiusdem generis facta consutaque mendacia, quemadmodum huc ve-/niens absque dubio comperi. Nullus enim est omnium qui resectis superstitionibus verum / simplicemque cultum dei ex animo optant, qui vel talibus verbis usi sunt vel ullo libelli con-/temptu eum rejiciendum cuperent. Imo omnes harum partium quibuscum adhuc locu-/tus sum (multos enim si non omnes conveni) agnoscunt et fatentur palam singulare / fuisse donum dei inter tot adversarios verae pietatis et religionis hostes qui nostris re-/stiterunt, et in ea reformatione Anglicana molesti fuerunt, quod invitis Papistis / hunc libellum extorserunt. Petuntque et petierunt semper, ut quae in illo superstiti-/osa, impura, et quae ecclesias rite constitutas non deceant, auferantur: atque ea loco / eorum substituantur, quae verbo dei et commendari et defendi possunt. in qua re non / levissimorum aut indoctorum hominum consilia, ut placet quibusdam mendacii po-/tius quam veritatis spiritu effutire secuti sunt; sed Calvini et aliorum quorum / ego literas legi, et iudicium non possum non approbare. quibus consultissimum initio / stabiliendae ecclesiae quae adhuc libera est videtur, ut nihil superstitiosum vel impu-/rum admittetur. Cum talia zizania in agrum Domini spargenda semper et in promptu nos-/ter adversarius Satan habeat, qui[?] ad infudenda longe paratior est et doctior quam / nos ad [letter, perhaps o, apparently deleted at beginning of following word] repellendum potentes aut cauti. Quorum consilio et aliis iustis rationibus pars / [top of catchword just apparent, but cut off of photocopy] [p. 51] altera adducta libellum non nisi purgatum resumendum censuit. Altera vero perfec-/tum satis purumque iudicavit nec ulla habere purgatione opus. Tandem autem con-/venit inter utramque partem idque ut audio consilio D. Leveri ut nostri (in illorum / enim numero recenseri magis cupio) formulam aliquam communium precum et / aliorum[?] rituum in ecclesia retinendam componerent, et illi ex altera parte suam / colligerent: Quod cum nostri non sine labore et temporis dispendio studiose fe-/cissent, exemplum prout constitutum erat toti eclesiae [sic] examinandum proposue-/runt, illudque sic propositum nulli reprehenderunt. Rogabant nostri vicissim ut / altera pars exemplum suae collectionis ostenderent. Tum Dominus Leverus arrepto / nostro libello, ex eo legebat solo quae observari et retineri voluit, libro nihil mutato, / neque ea quae volebat abstraxit nec in ordinem redegit, neque sic divulsa abstractaque / in unum aliquem librum ad evitandam confusionem legentium imprimi voluit. / Quae res cum neque expectationi multorum satisfaceret, neque aliquid remitteretur, maior / perturbatio oriebatur, adeo ut quidam ex magistratibus audita hac contentione, / aedem sacram ubi convenerant nostri tunc temporis intravit, et re bene examina-/ta obtrusit illis liturgiam Gallicam, quam multi ex nostris reprehenderunt; sed a / D. Coxo approbata et commendata fuisset, praecepitque omnibus quo tandem finem / contentionibus imponerent, ne alia uterentur, alioquin se effecturum ut quibus / templum antea aperuit eisdem contendentibus occluderetur, neque locus illis in / civitate ullus relinqueretur. Interea loci iste bonus vir et pius concionator et mi-/nister nostrorum ut nosti, cum saepius pro concione dixisset multa adhuc restare in / hoc nostro libello corrigenda, impura nonnulla et superstitiosa quae bene et pie in-/stituta ecclesia absque offensione et scandalo nequibat admittere, idque se paratum / esse cuivis ostendere, nonnulli ex nostris consilio valde crudeli inito, hunc pastorem / suum quem antea literis propria manu subscriptis ad se vocarunt, ad magistratum / laesae maiestatis Caesarianae et Marianae insimularunt, eoque tandem res rediit, ut / nisi prudentia magistratus intercessisset quae malitiam accusantium subolfecit, om-/nino capitis periculum subiisset, neque nunc aufugendi locum qui ab illis concedeba-/tur, habuisset. Quae res ita offendit animos omnium, quibus aliquid iudicii aut pi-/etatis reliquum est, ut nihil supra. Imo verentur nonnulli ne eandem crudelita-/tem ab istis superstitionum defensoribus experiantur, quam nunc in Anglia Papis-/tae exercent. Sed de his satis, cum omnia tuae prudentiae iste nuncius ordine pa-/tefaciet. Jam vero quid sperandum sit ex nostro huc adventu, argumento esse po-/test hesternus congressus. nostri enim qui huc venerunt, tibi enim dicenda est ve-/ritas, tenacius libello adhaerent quam ut ulla concordia ullusve contentionum finis / sperandus sit, nihil enim remittere volunt praeter vestes, genuflexiones ad receptio-/nem Sacramenti, et stationem Sacerdotii ad partem borealem, et si quae alia sunt / quae nec ipsi magistratus nec consuetudo loci permittent. adeo ut verendum sit, ne / perpetuo dum hic versamur obtrusae Gallicanae liturgiae subdamur. Quare, ad hanc / ipsorum pertinaciam retinendam, cum nihil adferunt[?] [compare referunt 3 lines below] praeter autoritatem et aestima-/tionem eorum bonorum virorum quorum opera liber iste in lucem prodiit, et impe-/dimentum quo minus alii huc confluerent, et tuam sententiam cui in tribus rebus tan-/tummodo quas recensui libellus ut referunt nostri displiceat; et haec talia prudenti-/bus viris non videntur, quare vel superstitiosa alia quae in illo sunt retineantur, vel / boni multi / [p. 52]boni multi qui hic sunt relicta hac civitate ad aliam confugerent, aut tantam occasi-/onem corrigendi et evitandi superstitionem praeterirent: rogarem tuam pietatem, ut / cautus esses ne illorum suasu ullius superstitionis patronus fuisse aut doctis nunc, aut / posteritati posthac videaris. Vale.