clergymen who had signed them. The most acrimonious of all his
works is his answer to Edward Fowler, afterwards Bishop of
Gloucester, an excellent man, but not free from the taint of
Pelagianism.

Bunyan had also a dispute with some of the chiefs of the sect to
which he belonged. He doubtless held with perfect sincerity the
distinguishing tenet of that sect; but he did not consider that
tenet as one of high importance, and willingly joined in
communion with quiet Presbyterians and Independents. The sterner
Baptists, therefore, loudly pronounced him a false brother. A
controversy arose which long survived the original combatants.
In our own time the cause which Bunyan had defended with rude
logic and rhetoric against Kiffin and Danvers was pleaded by
Robert Hall with an ingenuity and eloquence such as no polemical
writer has ever surpassed.

During the years which immediately followed the Restoration,
Bunyan's confinement seems to have been strict. But, as the
passions of 1660 cooled, as the hatred with which the Puritans
had been regarded while their reign was recent gave place to
pity, he was less and less harshly treated. The distress of his
family, and his own patience, courage, and piety softened the
hearts of his persecutors. Like his own Christian in the cage,
he found protectors even among the crowd of Vanity Fair. The
bishop of the Diocese, Dr Barlow, is said to have interceded for
him. At length the prisoner was suffered to pass most of his
time beyond the walls of the gaol, on condition, as it should
seem, that he remained within the town of Bedford.