under which Bunyan executed this document were far from groundless. At
no time did the persecution of Nonconformists rage with greater
fierceness. Never, not even under the tyranny of Laud, as Lord Macaulay
records had the condition of the Puritans been so deplorable. Never had
spies been so actively employed in detecting congregations. Never had
magistrates, grand-jurors, rectors, and churchwardens been so much on the
alert. Many Nonconformists were cited before the ecclesiastical courts.
Others found it necessary to purchase the connivance of the agents of the
Government by bribes. It was impossible for the sectaries to pray
together without precautions such as are employed by coiners and
receivers of stolen goods. Dissenting ministers, however blameless in
life, however eminent in learning, could not venture to walk the streets
for fear of outrages which were not only not repressed, but encouraged by
those whose duty it was to preserve the peace. Richard Baxter was in
prison. Howe was afraid to show himself in London for fear of insult,
and had been driven to Utrecht. Not a few who up to that time had borne
up boldly lost heart and fled the kingdom. Other weaker spirits were
terrified into a show of conformity. Through many subsequent years the
autumn of 1685 was remembered as a time of misery and terror. There is,
however, no indication of Bunyan having been molested. The "deed of
gift" by which he sought to avoid the confiscation of his goods was never
called into exercise. Indeed its very existence was forgotten by his
wife in whose behalf it had been executed. Hidden away in a recess in
his house in St. Cuthbert's, this interesting document was accidentally
discovered at the beginning of the present century, and is preserved
among the most valued treasures of the congregation which bears his name.

Quieter times for Nonconformists were however at hand. Active
persecution was soon to cease for them, and happily never to be renewed
in England. The autumn of 1685 showed the first indications of a great