Is it my fault that our people are pursued and killed,
Even into churches where they should be carefree and safe?
If it is true what Leviticus teaches, that the witness is guilty,
Then I would have felt God's anger, from Exodus and further on,
Here and now as a mark in my soul, to the seventh generation,
To the thirteenth as lasting misfortune, it would be upbraided.

That our time is more war-filled than the dark ages
Before us, because then it was a wondrous peace.
Not even can I say that I have killed that one villain,
In my struggle to save the lives of the many of people.
But even then, I would plead guilty, while you, my lords,
You judge me without know or respect my beliefs.
Dei Gratia id quod sum and thus I am also your servant.

I only said that by God's Grace, I became whom you all despise.
I was like my kinsmen, with Martin Luther, and yes, I became a Catholic,
And yes, at last, I can be one of you then anyway.
Do you think you are following God's Will by rejecting me?
Maybe so, but don't your human judgments bring hellfire to Earth?
You speak from your own right and the certainty of apparent dogmas,
But what are you guilty of, gentlemen? Do you know?

Let each do what must done, so we can say pretium laborum non vile,
But slowly and not in vain, we have become from mere servants
Of the Lord, into workers for ourselves and our people.
This is what I see in your works, friends, and in our churches:
The will to follow one's destiny, as it is written in the palm of God's hand.
You work and pray, but do you want to exalt only yourself in all that?
All living Christians, friends, and those in afterlife, bear God's sign.

All the days of my adult life I want to prevent the bloodshed
That is wrought in the name of Lord and distant King,
But above all I want to defend those who sincerely believe.
I will leave the Word of the Lord to you, and your scholars
Who's disputes about Iota and Tittle are sacred to me.
I will lay a cordon of peace around your states and cities,
So that the hand of the foreign monarch no longer kills your faithful.

Nor am I even abhorred what that distant prince believes.
More than half of Europe and all of America is not enough for him,
If that gives him territorial peace, I don't mind, if he will leave to us
What we want to believe and keep us out of his megalomaniac passions.
What is it you want, milords, what future do you have in mind?
Will it differ from mine? You may not want to exist in mine,
But undeniably and even if you are not inclined that thought yet,