The more they multiply their menaces the more they increase my joy… They have already torn my honour and my reputation to shreds. The only thing left me is my poor body, and let them take it; they will only shorten my life some few hours. My soul they cannot take from me. He who would publish the word of Christ in the world must expect death every hour; for our bridegroom is a bridegroom of blood.

-Martin Luther, prior to the examination of Cardinal Cajetan in Augsburg, 1518, quoted in History of the Reformation by D’Aubigne

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