16. Said the pharisees: "Dear and truly quite wise friend! We want to do this and secretly we are already convinced, that this Galilean can and is the promised Messiah; however, here we can also tell you an old proverb of yours, which says: Ultra posse nemo tenetur (One should not demand more from anyone as what he is capable of). And thus it stand with us. We cannot do it because of our office which we unfortunately occupy. For if we openly acknowledge to be His disciples, we will be relentlessly cursed and expelled by the temple. To where should we go, and what are we going to do then, and who will give us shelter and food?

17. Yes, if one could live like the birds in the air, it then would be quite easy to accept a teaching, which in itself is full of the purest truth, what however is the complete opposite of our current Jewish believe! We can thus accept and believe it for us personally in all secrecy. However, openly we have to be against the matter, because otherwise we could not live anywhere else. Who considers this will recognize what we are able to do or not to do."