agianism.

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 pious 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 jail, on condition, as it should seem, that he remained
within the town of Bedford.

He owed his complete liberation to one of the worst acts of one of the
worst governments that England has ever seen. In 1671 the Cabal was in
power. Charles II had concluded the treaty by which he bound himself to
set up the Roman Catholic religion in England. The first step which he
took toward that end was to annul, by an unconstitutional exercise of
his prerogative, all the penal statutes against the Roman Catholics; and
in order to disguise his real design, he annulled at the same time the
penal statutes against Protestant Non-conformists. Bunyan was
consequently set at large. In the first warmth of his gratitude, he
published a tract in which he compared Charles to that humane and
generous Persian king who, though not himself blessed with the light of
the true religion, favored the chosen people, and permitted them, after
years of captivity, to rebuild their beloved temple. To candid men, who
consider how much Bunyan had suffered, and how little he could guess the
secret designs of the court, the unsuspicious thankfulness with which he
a