The Restoration and nonconformity

The Republic's collapse in 1660 had more to do with disintegration than with the strength of Royalist and episcopalian forces. Unable to agree among themselves on the appropriate form of government or religious expression, and unable to win broad public support, the disparate and often feuding Republicans and sectaries watched almost helplessly as one of their own number, General George Monck, engineered the restoration of monarchy. In its train came the re-establishment of episcopacy, the ousting of Dissenters from the state church and universities, and efforts to curb nonconformity. The Restoration did not mean the loss of an earthly paradise, for the 1650s had fallen far short of the reformers' dreams, but it sharply curtailed opportunities to build a godly society, stopping a work in progress and compelling reform's proponents to shape strategies for survival. In formulating such strategies, the greatest Nonconformist writers, Milton and Bunyan, transcended their individual experiences and the revolutionary heritage in which they were rooted.