In this letter, John Rolfe is requesting Sir Thomas Dale's permision to marry Pocahontas. Pocahontas had been captured by the English Captain Samuel Argall, who had hoped to use her to negotiate a permanent peace between him and Powhatan, Pocahontas' father. She was treated very well by the English and ended up converting to Christianity and being baptized with the name Rebecca. By the time she was finally released, she had fallen in love with John Rolfe. Rolfe realizes that there might be consequences if he marries her and he wants to be a righteous Christian man. He is fully devoted to the Lord, writing that he had never failed to faithfully pray to God for his sacred and holy assistance every day. However, he feels a lot of passion for Pocahontas
