The year 1660 was a catastrophe for radical Puritans. The return of the monarchy under Charles II spelled disaster for people like John Milton, who had written passionate tracts defending religious liberty, republican government, and the legitimacy of killing a king. He made a last-minute plea, urging the nation to rally to "the good old cause." Having set out for the Promised Land by "turning regal bondage into a free commonwealth," it would be folly to return to the servitude of Egypt.

Despite his warnings, the monarchy was restored and a warrant was issued for Milton's arrest. He survived, thanks to influential friends, but other Puritan revolutionaries were put to death in gruesome public executions or locked up in the Tower of London.

Moderate Puritans, like Richard Baxter, did not share Milton's despair in May 1660. Although Baxter had been a supporter of Parliamentary causes during the English Civil War, he was no anti-monarchist and deplored the execution of Charles I. While his ...

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