On 24 August 1662 — St Bartholomew’s Day — more than 2,000 ministers were forced out of the Church of England.
They left their pulpits, their homes, and in many cases their livelihoods.
Some walked out in tears.
Some walked out in silence.
All walked out because they could not, in good conscience, submit to the new religious settlement of the Restoration.
This moment became known as The Great Ejection, and it permanently reshaped English Christianity.
The Road to Ejection
After the Restoration of Charles II in 1660, Parliament moved quickly to re‑establish the Church of England and suppress the Puritan influence that had dominated the Commonwealth.
The key instrument was the Act of Uniformity (1662), which required ministers to:
use the Book of Common Prayer
receive episcopal ordination
publicly declare full conformity to Anglican doctrine
renounce the Solemn League and Covenant
For many Puritan ministers — Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists — these requirements were impossible.
They believed:
worship must be governed by Scripture, not state decree
episcopal ordination was not biblically required
conscience could not be coerced
the Covenant was a solemn vow before God
The Act of Uniformity forced a choice: conscience or conformity.
A Day of Tears and Courage
On 24 August 1662, the deadline arrived.
In towns and villages across England, ministers preached their final sermons.
Some congregations wept openly.
Others protested.
Some churches locked their doors to prevent the new, government‑approved clergy from entering.
The scale was unprecedented:
over 2,000 ministers ejected
roughly one‑fifth of all clergy
the largest mass removal of ministers in English history
This was not a political purge — it was a spiritual crisis.
Famous Figures Among the Ejected
Many of the most influential Puritan voices were forced out:
Richard Baxter — refused a bishopric, ejected from Kidderminster
John Owen — already excluded from public office, now barred from ministry
Thomas Watson — beloved London preacher
Thomas Brooks, Joseph Caryl, Thomas Manton, and many others
These were not radicals.
They were pastors, scholars, and preachers who had shaped English Protestantism for decades.
The Birth of English Nonconformity
The Great Ejection created a permanent divide in English Christianity:
The Established Church (Anglican)
The Dissenters (Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists, Quakers, etc.)
This division would shape:
The Ejected ministers formed the backbone of what would become the Nonconformist tradition.
Suffering and Resilience
After the Ejection, the government passed further laws to suppress dissent:
Conventicle Act — banned unauthorised religious meetings
Five Mile Act — banished ejected ministers from their former parishes
Corporation Act — restricted public office to Anglicans
Many ministers lived in poverty.
Some preached secretly in barns, fields, or private homes.
Others were imprisoned — including John Bunyan, whose confinement produced The Pilgrim’s Progress.
Yet the movement did not die.
It deepened.
A Legacy of Conscience
The Great Ejection is often remembered as a tragedy — and it was.
But it was also a moment of extraordinary integrity.
These ministers chose:
Their courage laid the foundations for:
religious liberty
the rise of evangelicalism
the global missionary movement
the flourishing of dissenting academies and churches
The Ejection was a wound, but it became a seed.
The Reformation’s Costliest Moment
If the English Reformation began with kings and bishops, it matured through the suffering of ordinary pastors.
The Great Ejection reminds us that the path of faithfulness is often costly — and that the church’s deepest strength is found not in power, but in conviction.
On that August day in 1662, more than 2,000 ministers walked out of their churches.
But they did not walk out of their calling.
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