"This court acknowledges, as I suppose, the validity of the Law of God. I see a book kissed here which I suppose to be the Bible, or at least the New Testament [which] teaches me that, “All things whatsoever I would that men should do to me, I should do even so to them.” It teaches me, further, to “Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them.” I endeavored to act up to that instruction." - John Brown, before he was executed

It was in a church service that John Brown dedicated his life to the destruction of slavery.

In a letter dated October 31, 1859, John Brown wrote:

My dear Wife, and Children Every one,

I suppose you have learned before this by the newspapers that two weeks ago today we were fighting for our lives at Harpers Ferry...

Under all these terrible calamities; I feel quite cheerful in the assurance that God reigns; will overrule all for his glory; & the best possible good. I feel no consciousness of guilt in the matter: or even mortification on account of my imprisonment & irons & I feel perfectly assured that very soon no member of my family will feel any possible disposition to "blush on my account." Already dear friends at a distance with kindest sympathy are cheering me with the assurance that posterity at least: will do me justice. I shall commend you all together with my beloved; but bereaved daughters in law to their sympathies which I have no doubt will soon reach you. I also commend you all to him "whose mercy endureth for­ever": to the God of my fathers "whose I am and whom I serve." "He will never leave you or forsake you" unless you forsake him. Finally my dearly beloved be of good comfort. Be as it has been consistent with the holy religion of Jesus Christ in which I remain a most firm, & humble believer. Never forget the poor nor think any thing you bestow on them to be lost to you even though they may be as black as Ebedmelch, the Ethiopian eunuch one to whom Phillip preached Christ. Be sure to entertain strangers. . . "Remember them that are in bonds as bound with them." I am in charge of a jailor like the one who took charge of "Paul and Silas;" & you may rest assured that both kind hearts and kind faces are more or less about me: whilst thousands are thirsting for my blood. "These light allocations which are but for a moment shall work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." I hope to be able to write you again. My wounds are doing well. Copy this & send it to your sorrow stricken brothers, Ruth; to comfort them. Write me a few words in regard to the welfare of all. God Almighty bless you all and make you "joyful in the midst of all your tribulations." Write to John Brown, Charlestown, Jefferson Co, Va, care of Capt John Avis. Your Affectionate Husband & Father, John Brown