ABSTRACT
After the Restoration, religious enthusiasm was suspect. Increasingly, those who refused to conform to the Anglican church became more sober and respectable in their religious practices so that they could gain the right to worship in peace. Nonconformists have labelled the period from the Restoration to the accession of William and Mary as 'the great persecution'. After the Restoration, members of the Baptist churches were set apart from the rest of society, as were other Nonconformists. Nonconformists lost a missionary zeal and a widespread popular appeal. Divines of the Anglican church after the Restoration emphasised the importance of morality and sought to direct their congregations away from the religious enthusiasm which was blamed for the disorders of the Civil Wars and Interregnum. Catholics continued to suffer limitations on the practice of their faith, but the sympathy of Charles II and James II meant that Catholics might look to the monarch for some assistance with personal hardships.
