The cause of this great distress of the pious was solely, that in antichristendom they testified against the idolatrous and unrighteous life and ways of the priests, for which, as an abomination, God should once severely punish them, and make an end with them and their sins. Hence, King Ferdinand gave the crew of priests, who are a band of robbers, and delight in killing and slaying, power to do with them as they pleased. These condemned them as worthy of death, that they should not be tolerated on the earth, but should be sent to sea, thus to wear out their lives in much anguish and distress, as a warning to other brethren; and that the other three should be delivered into the hands of the Admiral of the Armada on the sea, and be employed on the galleons, in pillaging and waging war against the Turks and other enemies; though these imprisoned brethren previously told the messengers of the King, that they would not go against the enemy, to pillage and wage war, neither would they consent to do wrong on the sea just as little as on the land, nor sin against God in heaven; and that, since it was contrary to their faith and conscience, God, through his unconquerable power, and his grace, could preserve them on the sea as well as on the land. Nevertheless, these witnesses of the divine truth were led, through the King’s messengers and his strict command to the authorities, through cities, towns and villages, to be brought from one court to another. In this they suffered much and manifold adversity and great sorrow; but God always granted them gracious means, particularly in this, that every morning and evening they could all unmolestedly pray to God, and that one brother could without hindrance comfort the other; which they accepted very gratefully as a special grace and gift of God.
By this and the ordering of their whole life they convinced the people in many places, so that many who at their arrival regarded them as malefactors, had great compassion on them. Moreover, the King’s servants, their conductors, frequently bore them testimony, and told them that they should not pass silently through the cities and towns, but should make their faith known by singing or otherwise.
Thus the faithful company was led, like a flock of sheep, through countries and cities, to the sea; journeying from the castle of Falkenstein to Vienna, thence to Neustadt and Schottwien, over the Semmering, to Bruck-on-the-Mur, to the borders of Bavaria, to Luebeck and Marburg, to Tiele, to Stein, in Carniola, over the Save to Laibach, but still no comfort came. During their imprisonment there they had to suffer much hunger and distress; they were fed with the bread of anguish, and had to drink the water of sorrow; but thus it was the will of God to reveal his word and truth in every place and country, and to make it known to the nations that were ignorant of it, and to let them hear the sound thereof; even as he always provides gracious means to lure men away from unrighteousness, so also here, where these witnesses of the faith and the divine truth were led to many and various places, and also to places where strange languages were spoken, where the truth had not been heard, and where it was unknown and hidden among the nations. They caused some from Carniola to search after the truth, and thereby some attained to a knowledge of it, who are still at this day serving God with a sincere heart. But how these captive brethren, while on their journey, were treated in many places, how they were beaten, driven, and coupled together with ropes and chains, and what resulted to them from this, would be too long to write; still, however great the tribulation they suffered, God always comforted them in their hearts.