How were expelled ministers "witnessed" during the Great Ejection of 1662?

Question

While investigating the local history of a meeting house in the town of Cockermouth, in Cumbria, England, I came across a reference to a "Brief Memoir of the Late Isaac Brown, Esq. of Cockermouth, Cumberland." in the Evangelical Magazine and Missionary Chronicle, June 1823.

An excerpt of this memoir is below, and refers to "four worthy confessors on the memorable Bartholomew-day of 1662". I presume this is referring to the Great Ejection of 1662, where Puritan ministers who had not agreed to conform to the 1662 Book of Common Prayer were ejected from the Church of England.

What I'm unclear about, is what the text is referring to when it says the neighbourhood "witnessed" the four ministers. Is it just referring to the fact that these ministers preached in the neighbourhood, was there some kind of ceremony on that Bartholomew's day, or something else? If this is referring to a ceremony, was this just a local occurrence or more widespread?

With the martyrs and men of God celebrated by inspired history, we can associate, though of course of a humbler rank, those of the Puritanic and Nonconformist race; for to them the united voice of public testimony has applied the language of the Apostle, "of whom the world was not worthy." In this honourable connexion stood the deceased friend and "father in Israel," whose life is here the subject of instructive consideration.

Isaac Brown was paternally descended from some of the very earliest Nonconformists in the county of Cumberland. The family estate was at Scales, in Leath Ward, the immediate neighbourhood of which had the honour of witnessing no fewer than four worthy confessors on the memorable Bartholomew-day of 1662: John Rogers, of Croglin; George Nicholson, of Kirkoswald; Simon Atkinson, of Lazonby; and William Hopkins, of Melmerby. On the ministry of these eminent men, the family of the Browns attended in public and private; and participated alike in their adverse as well as prosperous circumstances.

Answer 1

"Confessor" is a technical term in this context. It normally means "a person who suffered for the faith, but not death" -- as opposed to the cited "martyr" who did suffer death.

Therefore, they were confessors because they refused to recant their beliefs to save themselves from ejectment.

Those in the surroundings witnessed this. While, in context, its meaning only that they saw it makes sense, it may also bear the connotation that they could bear witness, testify to its occurring. Repeating stories of such people considered an important way to encourage Christians. It may allude to to the passage in the Letter to the Hebrews, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us."

Answer 2

Britannica.com describes a witness in the Christian sense as:

a person totally given to God and his fellow men. There are three elements in this Christian witness: message, signs to convince, divine helps to awaken and draw others to God.

Message, signs to convince, and drawing people to God would imply preaching to a congregation and Preaching.com has an article entitled Preaching as Bearing Witness

Seeing the preacher as a witness is not a new idea

(snip)

One can quickly see the relationship between preaching and the idea of witness, and in this light it may seem curious that the witness image has not been more prominent in homiletical literature. There are reasons for this, however. To begin with, the terms “witnessing” and “giving a testimony” have often been associated with some of the more aggressive forms of evangelism. Homileticians have sniffed the odor of manipulation around these words and thus have stayed far away from them. As such, “witness” is a good word that has gotten into some trouble through no fault of its own.

The section of your quote in bold states that:

the immediate neighbourhood of which had the honour of witnessing no fewer than four worthy confessors on the memorable Bartholomew-day of 1662: John Rogers, of Croglin; George Nicholson, of Kirkoswald; Simon Atkinson, of Lazonby; and William Hopkins, of Melmerby.

In the context of Christian witness, I think this means that those four 'confessors' preached to the neighbourhood.