“I would not bow my knee before that most abominable idol, for all the torments that earthly tyrants can devise, God so assisting me, as his Holy Spirit moves me to write unfeignedly. And albeit, I have, in the beginning of this battle, appeared to play the faint-hearted and feeble soldier (the cause of which I remit to God), yet my prayer is that I may be restored to the battle again. And blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, I am not left so bare without comfort, but my hope is to obtain such mercy, that if a short end shall not be made of all my miseries by final death (which to me were no small advantage), that yet, by him who never despises the poor and afflicted, I shall be so encouraged to fight, that England and Scotland shall both know that I am ready to suffer more than either poverty or exile, for the profession of that doctrine, and that heavenly religion, whereof it has pleased his merciful providence to make me, amongst others, a simple soldier and witness bearer unto men.”

Excerpted from Letter penned by John Knox to Marjory Bowes, February, 1553. Recorded in Selected Writings of John Knox (Dallas, TX: Presbyterian Heritage Publications, 1995), p. 141.