"Ejected minister" redirects here. For other religious ministers removals, seedefrocking. For removing political ministers, seecabinet shuffle. For other, seedismissal.
1662 purge of Puritan ministers in the Church of England
Title page of a collection of Farewell Sermons preached by ministers ejected from their parishes in 1662
Although there had already been ministers outside the established church, the Great Ejection created an abiding concept ofNonconformity. Strict religious tests of theClarendon Code and otherPenal Laws left a substantial section of English society excluded from public affairs and university degrees for a century and a half.
The bicentennial in 1862 led to a sharp debate, with the Nonconformist agenda being questioned, and the account in Calamy being reviewed.[4]
Iain Murray argues that the issue was deeper than "phrases in theBook of Common Prayer and forms of church order," but regarded the "nature of true Christianity".[5]
TheBishop of Liverpool,J. C. Ryle (1816–1900), referred to the Ejection as an "injury to the cause of true religion in England which will probably never be repaired".[6]
Calamy, Edmund (1727).A Continuation of the Account of the Ministers, Lecturers, Masters and Fellows of Colleges, and Schoolmasters, Who Were Ejected and Silenced After the Restoration in 1660, by or Before the Act for Uniformity. London: Printed for R. Ford [etc.].Volume I andVolume II.
Seed, John (2005). "History and Narrative Identity: Religious Dissent and the Politics of Memory in Eighteenth-Century England".Journal of British Studies.44 (1). Cambridge University Press:46–63.doi:10.1086/424945.JSTOR10.1086/424945.S2CID146497251.
