I may before men glory
in the Lord, that I, whether in the cloister or the school, here, and
wherever I have been, have retained a good repute and esteem, with much
love and favour, on account of my uprightness. You yourselves have
heard the messengers from Wuertemberg acknowledge that there was no
complaint or evil report of my conduct or manner of life at the
monastery of Alpirsbach, but that I have behaved myself well and
piously; all they can say against me is, that I have concerned myself
too much with what they call the seductive and cursed teaching of
Martin Luther, whose writings I have read and adhered to, and preached
them, contrary to the command of the abbot, publicly to the laity in
the monastery; and when this was forbidden me, I yet continued
secretly, and as it were in a corner, to infuse them into the souls of
some of the young gentlemen there. With such praise from my fathers and
brethren I am well content, and can justify myself for this one
misdeed, as a Christian, from the word of God, and I hope that my
defence will serve to remove false and ungrounded suspicions, not only
from me, but also from others.

"When in the course of the last year, the works and opinions of Martin
Luther were spread abroad and became known, they came into my hands
before they had been condemned and forbidden by the ecclesiastical and
lay authorities; and like other newly printed works, I saw and read
them. In the beginning, these doctrines appeared to me somewhat strange
and objectionable, and contrary to the long-established theology and
clever teaching of the schools, in opposition also to the papal and
ecclesiastical rights, and to the old, and, as I then considered them,
praiseworthy customs and usages of our forefathers. But it was not less
evident to me that this man interspersed everywhere in his teaching
clear and distinct passages from the Holy Scriptures, according to
which all human teaching ought to be guided and judged, accepted or
rejected. I was much amazed, and stirred up to read these doctrines,
not once or twice, but frequently, with much industry and earnest
attention, and to weigh and compare them with the evangelical writings
to which they constantly appealed. The longer I did this, the more I
perceived with what great dignity the Holy Scriptures were treated by
this learned and enlightened man,--how purely and delicately he handled
them, how cleverly and well he everywhere brought them forward, how