“Behold our trouble and apparent destruction, and stay the sword of thy vengeance before it devours us...Let not thy enemies rejoice at our destruction, but look now to the honour of thy own name, O Lord; and let thy gospel be preached with boldness in this realm. If thy justice must perish, then punish our bodies with the rod of thy mercy. But, O Lord, let us never revolt, nor turn back to idolatry again. Mitigate the hearts of those who persecute us; and let us not faint under the cross of our Saviour, but assist us with the Holy Ghost, even to the end.”

Excerpted from Knox’s “Public Confession following the Death of Edward VI, 1553.” Recorded in Selected Writings of John Knox (Dallas, TX: Presbyterian Heritage Publications, 1995), p. 100.