taken notice of by the people of God and the country where I dwell, who
will testify the contrary for me, setting aside the carnal ministry with
their retinue who are so mad against me as thyself."

In his third book, published in 1658, at "the King's Head, in the Old
Bailey," a few days before Oliver Cromwell's death, Bunyan left the
thorny domain of polemics, for that of Christian exhortation, in which
his chief work was to be done. This work was an exposition of the
parable of "the Rich Man and Lazarus," bearing the horror-striking title,
"A Few Sighs from Hell, or the Groans of a Damned Soul." In this work,
as its title would suggest, Bunyan, accepting the literal accuracy of the
parable as a description of the realities of the world beyond the grave,
gives full scope to his vivid imagination in portraying the condition of
the lost. It contains some touches of racy humour, especially in the
similes, and is written in the nervous homespun English of which he was
master. Its popularity is shown by its having gone through nine editions
in the author's lifetime. To take an example or two of its style:
dealing with the excuses people make for not hearing the Gospel, "O,
saith one, I dare not for my master, my brother, my landlord; I shall
lose his favour, his house of work, and so decay my calling. O, saith
another, I would willingly go in this way but for my father; he chides me
and tells me he will not stand my friend when I come to want; I shall
never enjoy a pennyworth of his goods; he will disinherit me--And I dare
not, saith another, for my husband, for he will be a-railing, and tells
me he will turn me out of doors, he will beat me and cut off my legs;"
and then turning from the hindered to the hinderers: "Oh, what red lines
will there be against all those rich ungodly landlords that so keep under
their poor tenants that they dare not go out to hear the word for fear
that their rent should be raised or they turned out of their houses.
Think on this, you drunken proud rich, and scornful landlords; think on