Legacies

This epilogue recounts how Puritanism as a movement within the Church of England came to an end in 1662, when some 1,600 ministers who refused to conform were “ejected” and, thereafter, became known as Dissenters (or Dissent). Anyone who accepted the provisions of the Act of Uniformity of May 1662 had to prove that a bishop had ordained him or accept ordination anew. Conformity also required scrupulous adherence to the Book of Common Prayer. Understandably, some of the ejected ministers found their way back into the state church or, because of local circumstances, were able to carry on their ministry for a while. Meanwhile, the situation in Scotland is less easily summarized. There, episcopacy was restored and the royal supremacy reaffirmed, but no English-style prayer book was reimposed. The Scots who thought of themselves as Presbyterians continued to practice their tradition, although they were harshly criticized for compromising with government of Charles II by countrymen who clung to the covenants of 1638 and 1643. On all sides, the personal tragedies were many. Even after William III agreed to replace episcopal governance with Presbyterian, schisms continued to fracture the kirk in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.