'Settling the Peace of the Church'

The 1662 Act of Uniformity and the consequent ''ejections'' on 24th August (St. Bartholomew''s Day) of those who refused to comply with its stringent conditions comprise perhaps the single most significant episode in post-Reformation English religious history. Intended, in its own words, ''to settle the peace of the church'' by banishing dissent and outlawing Puritan opinion it instead led to pen...