The summer of 2012 sees the 350th anniversary of the so-called ‘great ejection’ of 1662, when those ministers who could not subscribe to the Book of Common Prayer or minister according to its rubrics were forced into the ecclesiastical wilderness, taking with them whoever was determined enough to follow them. The event is now hailed by the free churches as the beginning of the English Dissenting tradition while the Church of England prefers to concentrate on the positive aspect—the achievement of the classical form of the Prayer Book that is still one of its official formularies today.
To some degree, the controversies of the seventeenth century have now receded into the past to the extent that they can be studied in a more dispassionate manner than was possible even fifty years ago. For example, a commemorative book edited by Alan Sell (The great ejectment of 1662) contains a number of articles by different scholars who admit that the Dissenters’ claims have been exaggerated. The 1700 or so ejected ministers of legend have seen their numbers dwindle to something like 980, and will probably be fewer still when proper research has been done on all of them. Only about five percent of the population followed them, and many of them kept one foot in the door of the established church. Some famous names departed, but a generation later Dissent was in decline and might have disappeared had it not been for the Evangelical revival which restored its fortunes. Read more
Originally published in the Autumn 2012 issue of the Churchman magazine of Church Society.
No comments:
Post a Comment