Those who were ejected in 1662 suffered as they did because of their loyalty to conscience, their belief that the Reformation was a great act of God that was essential and must be continued, and their insistence that Scripture and not tradition must reign supreme. In these days of doctrinal indifference those who suffered through the Ejection are a tremendous example to us all, Nonconformist or not. Read this account and you will be both historically informed and motivated to serve the Lord with the same principled zeal that was displayed by those thousands of heroes of the faith in 1662.

By Bartholomew's Day, 24 August, 1662, all ministers and schoolmasters in England and Wales were required by the Act of Uniformity to have given their "unfeigned assent and consent" to the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England. On theological grounds nearly two thousand ministers--approximately one fifth of the clergy of the Church of England--refused to comply and thereby forfeited their livings. This book has been written to commemorate the 350th Anniversary of the Great Ejectment. In Part One three early modern historians provide accounts of the antecedents and aftermath of the ejectment in England and Wales, while in Part Two the case is advanced that the negative responses of the ejected ministers to the legal requirements of the Act of Uniformity were rooted in positive doctrinal convictions that are of continuing ecumenical significance.