self-righteousness was dancing: this took him one whole year to
accomplish, and then he bade farewell to these sports for the rest
of his life.[63] We are not to conclude from the example of a man
who in after-life proved so great and excellent a character, that,
under all circumstances, bell-ringing and dancing are immoral.
In those days, such sports and pastimes usually took place on the
Lord's-day; and however the Church of England might then sanction
it, and proclaim by royal authority, in all her churches, the
lawfulness of sports on that sacred day, yet it is now universally
admitted that it was commanding a desecration of the Sabbath, and
letting loose a flood of vice and profaneness. In themselves, on
days proper for recreation, such sports may be innocent; but if they
engender an unholy thought, or occupy time needed for self-examination
and devotion, they ought to be avoided as sinful hindrances to a
spiritual life.

Bunyan was now dressed in the garb of a religious professor, and had
become a brisk talker in the matters of religion, when, by Divine
mercy, he was stripped of all his good opinion of himself; his want
of holiness, and his unchanged heart, were revealed to his surprise
and wonder, by means simple and efficacious, but which no human
forethought could have devised. Being engaged in his trade at
Bedford, he overheard the conversation of some poor pious women,
and it humbled and alarmed him. 'I heard, but I understood not; for
they were far above, out of my reach. Their talk was about a new
birth, the work of God on their hearts, also how they were convinced
of their miserable state by nature; how God had visited their souls
with his love in the Lord Jesus, and with what words and promises
they had been refreshed, comforted, and supported against the
temptations of the devil. Moreover, they reasoned of the suggestions