about
the year 1524; but very soon after he went over to the party of Reform,
and was settled as a reforming preacher in the little church at
Gustenfelden near Nuremberg. During this period he came into close and
intimate relation with the powerful humanistic spirit of that important
city. Hans Sachs was already a person of fame and influence in
Nuremberg, and here he became acquainted with the writings of the most
famous humanists of the day--Erasmus, Hutten, Reuchlin, Pirkheimer, {48}
Althamer and others. In 1528 he married Ottilie Behaim, a woman of rare
gifts, whose brothers were pupils of Albrecht Duerer, and who were
themselves in sympathy with the freer tendencies of the time as expressed
by the Anabaptists. Franck, however, though sympathizing with the
aspirations of the Anabaptists for a new age, did not feel confidence in
their views or their methods. His first literary work was a translation
into German of Althamer's _Diallage_, which contained an attack from the
Lutheran point of view upon the various Enthusiasts of the period,
especially the Anabaptists. In his original preface to this work Franck,
though still in most respects a Lutheran, already reveals unmistakable
signs of variation from the Wittenberg type, and he is plainly moving in
the direction of a religion of the spiritual and mystical type freed from
the limitations of sect and party. Even in this formative stage he
insists that the Spirit, and not commentaries, is the true guide for the
interpretation of Scripture; he already contrasts Spirit and letter,
outer man and inner man, and he here lays down the radical principle,
which he himself soon put into practice, that a minister of the Gospel
should resign his charge as soon as he discovers that his preaching is
not bearing spiritual fruit in the transformation of the lives of his
congregation.[3]

Sometime before 1530 Franck had come into intimate connection with Denck,
Buenderlin, Schwenckfeld, and other contemporary leaders of the
"Spiritual" movement, and their influence upon him was profound and
lasting, because their message fitted the aspirations which, though not
yet well defined, were surging subconsciously in him.[4] There are
throughout his writings very clear marks of Schwenckfeld's influence upon
him, but Buenderlin especially spoke to his condition and helped him
discover the road which his feet were seeking. In an important letter
which Franck wrote to Johann Campanus i