Some of the darkest days that the Church of Christ on this earth has ever known were those days surrounding the Puritan ejection of 1662. An act of Uniformity had been passed by Charles 11, and the refusal to conform to the strictures of religion "as established by law" meant immediate withdrawal of all rights to hold any pastoral charge or to exercise the work of the ministry. "For conscience sake," many men felt that they could never bow the knee to what was required of them, and on "Black Bartholomew's Day" 1662, these "Puritans" were driven from their pulpits, churches and homes.
Many letter exchanged hands in those days as the Puritans endeavoured to "unitedly" know the mind of the Lord on this issue which now faced them, but it was mostly within the confines of the homes that they must shortly leave that "non-conformists" came to their decision before the Lord. As old Philip Henry, father of Matthew Henry, looked around his parish and the home where his children had been reared, he expressed the thought of many in his day: "We must either conform," he said, "or leave all this by Bartholomew's Day.
How heavily this aspect of their actions weighed upon them. "I have eleven arguments for conformity," said the godly Edward Lawrence as he looked at his wife and ten children, "But Christ has said, 'whoso loveth wife or children more than me is not worthy of me.'" When he was asked how he and his family might live if he were ejected he referred his enquirer to the Word of God: "We must live on the 6th of Matthew," he said: "'Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink: nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on.'" When Richard Baxter expressed his thoughts in poetry his question was answered by a resounding "YES!" almost two thousand strong: –
"Must I be driven from my books?
From house, and goods, and dearest friends?"
"YES!" said the Puritan preachers of England; "If there be no other way to have a 'conscience void of offence,' then, we must be driven out." "Our work is dear to us," said the mighty Oliver Heywood, "but God is dearer, and we must not do the least evil to obtain the greatest good … the bargain will be too hard to provide a livelihood by making shipwreck of faith and a good conscience."
What homes these must have been to produce such unwavering allegiance to God's truth in a day of wholesale compromise. Would to God our homes were such today; men of "Puritan" spirit and zeal – and women too!
In the above passage mention is made of the "mighty Oliver Heywood" and in the next edition of the magazine we will carry an article on his wife Elizabeth Heywood entitled "Elizabeth Heywood – Christian Wife and Mother.
This Page Title – The Act of Uniformity – The Puritan Ejection The Wicket Gate Magazine "A Continuing Witness". Internet Edition number 55 – placed on line July 2005 Magazine web address – www.wicketgate.co.uk |