Restoration in England

Following the Puritan Rebellion and Cromwell dictatorship, England restored the monarchy, the episcopate and the Book of Common Prayer to national life. Charles II, who had been smuggled to France with the help of Catholic subjects, and who grew up in Catholic France, returned to England and as king was also Governor of the Church of England. But both he and his heir, James II (VII of Scotland) would convert to Catholicism. James being the last Catholic to sit on the throne.

In a presentation to the Anglican Use Society in 2010, Dr. Anne Barbeau Gardiner tells the story of these two royal brothers who brought the Church of England near to a full restoration - to Catholic communion. But who ultimately failed due to the Puritan objections that would once more bring war to the realm and a foreigner to the throne.

Read Dr. Gardiner's fine essay in our Advent 2010 issue: http://www.anglicanuse.org/AE_3_04_Barbeau_2_Royals.pdf

Archbishop Laud and the Restoration of Public Worship in the Church of England

Under Elizabeth I and James (I of England and VI of Scotland) the public worship in the churches of England deteriorated as the Puritan party within the Church of England extended its influence. The official doctrine of the Church of England, as stated in Convocation, still took note of "the ancient Catholic fathers and doctors", but the Puritan reading of Scripture, tending toward a fundamentalist reading (which would ultimately resurrect the fundamentalist teachings of Arius and result in many Puritan churches becoming Unitarian) would ban anything not explicitly found in Scripture, for example clerical dress such as the surplice.

But under Charles I's Archbishop William Laud, the "Catholic" party within the Church, which found support in the writings of divines such as Richard Hooker and Jeremy Taylor, found renewed strength. And while the Puritan backlash, which resulted in Laud's execution and the regicide of Charles by the Scottish rebels seemed overwhelming, when the monarchy and episcopate were restored under Charles II, it was largely a Laudian pattern of worship and church government that flourished.
In the second of a three-part series, you can read about Laud's efforts to restore the public worship (and larger public role of the Church) as published in Volume 2, Number 2 (Pentecost 2007) at the Anglican Embers page of the Anglican Use Society: http://www.anglicanuse.org/AE_2_02_Cavanaugh-Laud-Worship.pdf