when I have begun to speak the Word with much liberty, I have been
presently so straitened in speech that I scarcely knew what I was
about, or as if my head had been in a bag.'[177] They were valuable,
also, as a proof that all he said had its exclusive reference to
the world to come, without the mixture of politics, which might
have given offence to the Government. Thus, when he was apprehended
for neglecting to attend the church service and for preaching the
gospel, in his conversation with Mr. Cobb, the magistrate's clerk,
he said 'that, to cut off all occasions of suspicion from any,
as touching the harmlessness of my doctrine, in private I would
willingly take the pains to give any one the notes of all my
sermons, for I do sincerely desire to live quietly in my country,
and to submit to the present authority.'[178] In such troublesome
times these would afford abundant proof that he was desirous of
submitting to all the political institutions of his country, while
he dared not conform to human laws affecting his faith or his mode
of worshipping God, for which he alone was to stand answerable at
the great day.

The employment of his time in earning a maintenance for his family,
and his constant engagements to preach, interfered with the proper
fulfillment of his duties as a deacon of the church. His resignation
of this important office is thus recorded in the minutes of the
church--'At a meeting held on the 27th of the 6th month, 1657, the
deacon's office was transferred from John Bunyan to John Pernie,
because he could no longer discharge its duties aright, in consequence
of his being so much employed in preaching.'

We cannot wonder that his time was incessantly employed. His was
no ordinary case. He had to recover and improve upon the little