place about fifty years back. The Rev. S. Hillyard, the pastor of
Bunyan's church, thus writes:--'When our meeting-house was lately
repaired, we were allowed, by the Lord Lieutenant and the justices,
to carry on our public worship, for a quarter of a year in the
town-hall, where, if it had been standing in Mr. Bunyan's time,
he must have been tried and committed to jail for preaching.' How
different our position from that of our pilgrim forefathers.

The justices, if the law had allowed them, would, from the first,
have prevented Bunyan's preaching. When they had the power,
he possessed nothing to excite the cupidity of an informer: this,
with the caution of his friends, saved him, for some months, from
being apprehended; they met privately in barns, milk-houses, and
stables, or in any convenient place in which they were not likely
to be disturbed. In addition to these services, every opportunity was
embraced to visit his friends--praying with them, and administering
consolation, arming them with a steady resolve to be patient
in suffering, and to trust in God for their safety and reward. At
length an information was laid, and he was caught in the very act
of worshipping God with some pious neighbours. Bunyan's account of
this event is deeply interesting; but the want of sufficient space
prevents my giving more than an abstract of it, referring the reader
to his Grace Abounding for fuller details.

On November 12, 1660, as the winter was setting in, having been
invited to preach at Samsell, in Bedfordshire, he prepared a sermon
upon these words--'Dost thou believe in the Son of God?' (John
9:35); from which he intended 'to show the absolute need of faith
in Jesus Christ, and that it was also a thing of the highest concern
for men to inquire into, and to ask their own hearts whether they