I then said to the lords: “My lords, I ask you, in what house are we, in a house of justice, or of violence?”
_Ans._ “In a house of justice.”
_Hans._ “God grant that it be so; but, my lords, of what do you accuse us, that you keep us imprisoned and confined like thieves and murderers? Have we wronged any one, or do you charge us with violence, murder, or roguery?”
_Ans._ “No; we know no such thing of you.”
_Hans._ “Well, my lords, why then have you imprisoned us?”
_Ans._ “Your adversaries will tell you that.”
_Hans._ “Are you our adversaries?”
_Ans._ “No, but we are judges.”
I then said to the monks: “Are you our adversaries?”
_Ans._ “No.”
_Hans._ “Well, if no one is our adversary, why are we imprisoned?”
A councilor then said: “The Emperor is your adversary.”
_Hans._ “We have not offended against his Imperial Majesty according to the power which he has received from God, and will obey him in every ordinance, as far as we can do so consistently with the truth.”
_Councilor._ “You have held meetings of this new doctrine, and the Emperor has commanded that this should not be done.”
_Hans._ “God has not authorized him to make such commandments; in this he transcends the power which God has given him, and in this we do not recognize his supremacy; for the salvation of our souls concerns us more, so that we show obedience to God.”
The monks then said: “We are your adversaries, in that your doctrine is not good; for if it were good, you would not preach in woods and corners, but openly.”
Hans then said: “Grant us a free place in the market, or in your monasteries and churches, and see whether we then shall go into the woods; but no, you are afraid that you would be reproved; hence you have brought it about, that you cannot be reproved, and have driven us from cities and countries.”
_Monks._ “Alas! we have not done it; the Emperor does it.”
_Hans._ “You have urged him to it.”
_Monks._ “We have not.”
The lords also then began to speak against us, why we were not content with the faith of our parents, and with our baptism.
We replied: “We know of no infant baptism, but of a baptism upon faith, concerning which the word of God teaches us.”
We then had many other words, and reproved them for undertaking to be judges in matters of faith, when they did not understand the Scriptures. “If you would be judges, be impartial, and let the matter proceed in regular order; let both parties appear together, and let our brethren and sisters that have been brought prisoners here together with us, be with us. Then one of us, whose mouth the Lord shall open, will speak, and the others shall listen in silence while he is speaking; and thus shall also our adversaries do.”
_Lords._ “We will not let you come together; we would have you dispute alone here.”
We then said: “My lords, it would be the most convenient for you, and the whole matter could be finished with one disputation; otherwise you will constantly have to dispute anew with one or two at a time.”
_Lords._ “What then? we will not have it so.”
Then a councilor said: “They want to have them together, in order to seduce one another still more; therefore they cannot be allowed to come together.”
_Hans._ “My lords, you say that you are judges, but we regard you as our adversaries; for you seek to injure us in every way, and to cause us and our brethren by violence and subtlety, to apostatize from our faith.”
_Ans._ “Why should we not do this, in order to bring them back?”