Town Clerk: “You desperate villain and arch-heretic, I tell you if there were no hangman here, I would hang you myself, and think that I had done God service.”
Michael: “God will judge aright.”
Thereupon the town clerk said a few words to him in Latin, what we do not know.
Michael Sattler answered him: Judica.
The town clerk then admonished the judges and said: “He will not cease from this talk to-day; therefore my Lord Judge, proceed with the sentence; I will commit it to the law.”
The judge asked Michael Sattler whether he also committed it to the law.
He replied: “Ye ministers of God, I am not sent to judge the word of God; we are sent to bear witness of it, and, hence, cannot consent to any law, since we have no command from God concerning it; but if we can not be discharged from the law, we are ready to suffer for the word of God whatever sufferings are, or may be imposed upon us all for the sake of the faith in Christ Jesus our Savior, as long as we have breath within us; unless we be dissuaded from it by the Scriptures.”
The town clerk said: “The hangman shall convince you; he shall dispute with you, arch-heretic.”
Michael: “I appeal to the Scriptures.”
Then the judges arose, and went into another room, where they remained for an hour and a half, and determined on the sentence. Matt. 6:10; John 16:2; 1 Cor. 4:5; John 1:8; Job 27:3; Acts 25:11.