James I. did not prove very serviceable to the Puritans, although he was not always reliable in This support of the Chureh. Ile restored the episcopate to his native Scotland. and ordered a revision of the English version of the lloly Scrip tures. The reign of Charles 1. and .1rchbishop Laud—for the King and prelate may rightly enough he joined together, such was their agree ent generally in character and policy was a period of great unrest to the Church. Their de votion to her interests and their sacrifices in her behalf cannot well he doubted or belittled, how er much it is to be regretted that the ono was laeking in linnet -s and the other in conciliatori ly ss. Tlo it and moral courage joined them together again in an honorable mar t u rdont.
The period of the Commonwealth may well he the erihed a. one of anarehy: and yet with smell men as Cromwell in power it may be that this very lawlessness was more to the advan tage of the Church than any system which they could have put into operation. (If the varied mischief and cruelty to the Church perpetrated during this period, there was ample evidence everywhere: and the senseless and profane dam age done by or under Cromwell's order is still visible in cathedrals and churches throughout the kingdom.
On the restoration of Charles II. (1660), the persecutions and other outward disasters to the Church came substantially to an end; and she be gan once more to go on with her work quietly and prosperously. No period, perhaps, furnished a richer company of learned and godly divines, among whom may he mentioned Sanderson, Jeremy Taylor, Barrow, Pearson, and Bull, who were worthy successors of Jewel, Hooker, An drewes, and Hammond.
The peace of the Church was again disturbed by the efforts of James fl. to reestablish the Papal supremacy. His subjects were so generally indignant at these efforts that the King was driven from his throne (16SS). It is calculated that at this time nineteen-twentieths of them were, at least nominally, adherents of the Church. William and Mary were declared King and Queen. Hence arose the non-jurors—bishops and others who refused to swear allegiance to the new dy nasty. The greatest among them were Ken and Sancroft. Much controversy ensued ; but event ually most of the non-jurors returned to the Church, and were reconciled to the succession. Sheldon had perhaps greater and more uncon trolled power than any had preceded or have followed him in the primacy. He superintended and to a large extent dictated the reconstruction of the Churches of England, Scotland, and Wales, after the Great Rebellion.
With the formation, in 169S. of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and, in 1701, of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and with the fostering care of Queen Anne. the Church began her history in the eighteenth century under most favorable circum stances. lime clergy attained to an influence never before surpassed. their great zeal and dis interestedness contributing in no small measure to this result. The advent of George 1. boded no
good to the Church. Before long, Bishop Head ley's heterodox writings brought much disquiet and harm. They were condemned by Convocation, for which act it was summarily prorogued—to reassemble. without legislative functions, only in the middle of the next century—the foreign prince's ministers treating the matter as one of a politieal character. How many evils resulted from the long-eontinued silenee of the Church's greatest council it is impossible to say; but it was a Id ow from which it, look many years to re cover Walpole, who was so influential with the monareh. encouraged a policy of quietness. and. by practically preventing the discussion of abuses, became a very questionable benefactor to the Church.
Various causes tended to prevent the fair pros peels that marked the opening of the eighteenth from being realized at its close. Promi nent among these may be mentioned the system of pluralities and non-residence, and the abuse of patronage. The Chnrell was now somewhat in a transition state. Not being compelled any longer to light for her very existence aml nationality, her members fell—not unnaturally, perhaps— into something like lethargy. From this condi tion she was aroused in the middle of the century by such men of intellectual ability as Butler, Waterland, Berkeley, \Varburton,.aad Conybeare, as also by the saintly life of Wilson, Bishop of Sodor and Man, and the devout writings of Wil liam Law. Tillotson, although belonging to the previous century, was still influential through his writings.
It is not necessary to trace the history, in this connection, of what. is known as Methodism (q.v.), but. it. must he taken into consideration in forming a correct idea of the Church's real condition at this period. While both John Wes ley and his brother Charles never left the com munion of their Mother Church, and uttered the most severe and solemn denunciations against any of their followers who should do so, and should dare to set up a new organization outside of the Church, yet doubtless they would • have been more enthusiastic churchmen than they were (Charles was more consistent than John) had there been more sympathetic appreciation of their devout aspirations and unselfish labors. . What. is known as the Evangelical School arose at the close of the eighteenth cen tury, and was a dominant factor in the Church for a full generation. Some of its most famous adherents were Cecil, Venn, Mil ner, Newton, and Simeon. It met an unde niable want, and contributed much to the advan tage of the Church. The Tractaria• (sometimes called. from its source, the Oxford) movement— so named from the publication from 1833 to 1841 of a series of `Tracts for the Times'—did very much to arouse the latent energy of the Church, and to prepare leer for availing herself of her great opportunities. Pussy, Keble, Newman, Wil liams are names that stand for the restoration of a Catholic faith not less essential to the Church than the Gospel truths which the others rightly magnified.