13 August 1663 A.D. “The Mile Act”—Boot to Neck: Repression of Presbyterian Ministers, Families and Congregations in England, Scotland & Ireland
Myers, David T. “August 13: The Mile Act (1663).” This
Day in Presbyterian History. 13 Aug
2014. http://www.thisday.pcahistory.org/2014/08/august-13/.
Accessed 14 Aug 2014.
August 13: The Mile Act (1663)
Lord, Give Us Faithful,
Resolute Pastors, Bold for the Gospel.
Starting with this post today, we begin to look at the
Great Ejection of Presbyterian ministers, among others, from Anglican pulpits
and schools in the British Isles. This ejection brought great hardship,
including death, to those people who had committed themselves to the Reformed
faith, and Presbyterianism in particular. Today’s post is the attempt to render
powerless those pesky Presbyterian pastors who continued in one way or another
to have a godly influence upon their parishes and their people. It took place
on August 13, 1663 in Britain, Ireland, and Ulster. This author will focus
today on just the kingdom of Scotland.
Known as the Act of Glasgow from which it emanated,
it was summarized also as “The Mile Act.” It commanded all Presbyterian
ministers to “remove themselves and their families, within twenty days, out of
the parishes where they were incumbents, and not to reside within twenty miles
of the same, nor within six miles of Edinburgh or any cathedral church, nor
within three miles of any royal burgh within the kingdom.” (W. M. Hetherington,
“History of the Church of Scotland,” p. 223.) Now for those of our readers
who live and move within the confines of these United States, this might be
possible, given our wide open spaces. But in the kingdom of Scotland, with its
narrow land masses and close population centers, such an act was prohibitive
beyond description. As Hetherington points out on the same page, “four hundred
spots such as this act describes could not have been found within the kingdom,
though all of its lowly wilds had been selected with geographical exactness.” (p.
223) What made the particular act very grievous was that its origin was found
in one who used to be a Presbyterian and for that matter, was elected to the
Westminster Assembly of Divines. This was the Duke of Lauderdale. He knew
Presbyterian doctrine and government from the inside, and now in his authority
as an Anglican archbishop, he sought to make his former friends miserable by
authoritarian acts to prove to his new-found friends his complete dedication in
their efforts to suppress the Presbyterian church.What he and the rest of the
Anglican hierarchy failed to realize however was the depth of love to the
Reformed Faith among the common folks of the kirk. When their beloved pastors
were kept by law away from the parishes, the people simply went to their former
pastors as they set up worship anywhere in the kingdom to hear the spiritual
message of their hearts and lips. This might mean a worship service in the
hills and valleys of Scotland, with a huge rock for a pulpit and stones on the
pastures for communion observance. But these circumstances did not matter for
the people of God. Soon their very attendance meant fines and even death for
their attendance.
Words to Live By:
What was the case there in Scotland has been the experience of many a godly and faithful pastor who was deposed from his ordination vows and driven from the visible church, all because of faithful obedience to the Word of God and opposition to the man-made courts of his denomination. Speaking personally, my pastor-father was one of those Presbyterian ministers who was a minister on the roll of the original Presbyterian Church of America in 1936. He had been deposed from his ordination in the PCUSA in 1936. Worshipping and serving the faithful people of God, as a result, often meant conducting services in buildings that were less than desirable. One such building was a saloon. I remember my father preached from behind the bar, with the stools and table chairs seating the congregation, while the bar piano was used to accompany the hymns. (Note: My “job” as a young boy was removing all the bottles left from the previous night well before the congregation arrived and worship started!) Other Presbyterian ministers met in one room schools, dance halls, a funeral chapel, a garage — anywhere and everywhere the unsearchable riches of Christ could be proclaimed. The wicked attempts of man, then and now, to crush the gospel witness are never successful, for Christ promised in Matthew 16:18
that “the gates of Hades will not overcome (the true church).
What was the case there in Scotland has been the experience of many a godly and faithful pastor who was deposed from his ordination vows and driven from the visible church, all because of faithful obedience to the Word of God and opposition to the man-made courts of his denomination. Speaking personally, my pastor-father was one of those Presbyterian ministers who was a minister on the roll of the original Presbyterian Church of America in 1936. He had been deposed from his ordination in the PCUSA in 1936. Worshipping and serving the faithful people of God, as a result, often meant conducting services in buildings that were less than desirable. One such building was a saloon. I remember my father preached from behind the bar, with the stools and table chairs seating the congregation, while the bar piano was used to accompany the hymns. (Note: My “job” as a young boy was removing all the bottles left from the previous night well before the congregation arrived and worship started!) Other Presbyterian ministers met in one room schools, dance halls, a funeral chapel, a garage — anywhere and everywhere the unsearchable riches of Christ could be proclaimed. The wicked attempts of man, then and now, to crush the gospel witness are never successful, for Christ promised in Matthew 16:18
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