St. Bartholomew’s Eve, 1662

August 23, 1662, was the last Lord’s Day before the Act of Uniformity took effect in England. The restored Church of England required ministers to use the prescribed Book of Common Prayer, submit to episcopal oversight, and swear related oaths—terms many believed would bind the conscience beyond Scripture. Across cities and villages, faithful pastors entered their pulpits knowing it might be their last time to preach there.

Congregations packed churches from London parishes to West Country market towns. Tears were common, yet so was steady resolve. Ministers pressed the same charge: worship Christ with a clean heart, cling to the written Word, and suffer loss rather than commit sin. “We must obey God rather than men!” (Acts 5:29).

Farewell Sermons and Faithful Voices

In London, Edmund Calamy’s final preaching at St Mary Aldermanbury became emblematic of the day’s solemn courage—an educated pastor choosing hardship over a forced conformity he could not affirm before God. Thomas Watson, remembered for warm, searching application, likewise preached as one preparing his flock for a church life without him, urging private devotion, family worship, and steadfastness under pressure.

Beyond the capital, Richard Baxter’s ministry around Kidderminster and John Flavel’s work in Devon and Dartmouth represent the breadth of the crisis: not merely an urban controversy, but a national severing of shepherds from sheep. These men did not claim perfection; they claimed a Master. They sought to leave behind not bitterness, but ballast—Scripture, prayer, repentance, and hope.

The Great Ejection and Its Legacy

On August 24, nearly two thousand ministers were ejected in what later generations called the Great Ejection. Many lost homes, income, and standing; some endured imprisonment, illness, and early death. Yet the heroism was often quiet: choosing integrity over comfort, and future faithfulness over present ease.

Their witness still instructs the church to “hold resolutely to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23), and to prize Christ’s approval above every earthly security.