God brother Bunyan and brother Fenn, and to entreat his gracious
assistance and presence with them in their respective works,
whereunto he hath called them.

The most extraordinary circumstance that took place at this time
was, that while Bunyan was a prisoner in a wretched dungeon for
preaching the glad tidings of salvation, or, in the mysterious
legal jargon of the period, 'holding conventicles,' he received
his Majesty's license to preach, and thus to hold conventicles--it
was one of the first that was granted. His Majesty continued to
keep him a prisoner for preaching more than six months after he
had licensed him to preach!! At the same time that the permission
to preach was granted to Bunyan, the house of Josiah Roughed,
Bedford, was licensed by his Majesty's command, for the use of such
as do not conform to the Church of England. In this John Bunyan was
authorized to teach, or in any other licensed place.[275] These
were among the first licenses that were granted. The present
highly-respected pastor of the church considers that this license
does not refer to Roughed's private dwelling, but rather to 'an
edifice or a barn, purchased of Robert Crompton, Esq., with a piece
of ground adjoining it,' in the parishes of St. Paul and Cuthbert,
for £50, in 1672, by Roughed, Bunyan, Fenn, and others, and which
was released by Fenn to Bunyan and others, November 10, 1681, two
days before Fenn's death. This building having been properly fitted
up by voluntary contribution, became permanently occupied by the
church as its place of meeting, until the old chapel was erected
in 1707. From this we may conclude that Bunyan was engaged in his
worldly occupation as a brazier, in the year that he obtained his
release from prison, and to 1681.