Westminster Confession of Faith |
The Westminster Confession of Faith is the chief doctrinal product of the Protestant Westminster Assembly.
In 1643, the English
Parliament called upon "learned, godly and judicious Divines", to meet at Westminster Abbey in order to provide advice on issues of worship, doctrine, government and discipline of
the Church of England. Their meetings, over a period of five
years, produced a Confession of Faith, as well as a Larger Catechism and a Shorter Catechism. For more than three centuries, various churches around the world have
adopted the Confession and the Catechisms as their standards of doctrine, subordinate to the Bible.
Political significance
During the English Civil War (1642-1649), the English parliament raised armies in an alliance with Scotland, against the forces of the king, Charles I of England. The purpose of the Westminster Assembly, in which 121 Puritan clergymen
participated, was to provide official documents for the reformation of the Church of England. The Scottish Presbyterian church
had complained for a number of years, that the church had been harassed and persecuted by the English bishops. For this reason,
as a condition for entering into the alliance with England, the Scottish Parliament required of the English that episcopalian government would be abolished in the Anglican church, to be replaced by presbyterian government; and that, the Church of England would consistently adhere
to Calvinistic standards of doctrine and worship. The Confession and Catechisms
were produced in order to secure the help of the Scots against the king.
The Scottish Commissioners who were present at the Assembly were satisfied with the Confession of Faith; and in 1647, the document was sent to the English parliament to be ratified, and submitted to the General
Assembly of the Scottish Kirk. The Kirk of Scotland adopted the
document without amendment, in 1647. In England, the House of Commons returned the document to the Assembly, with the requirement to compile a list of
proof texts from Scripture. After vigorous debate, the Confession was then in part adopted as the Articles of Christian Religion
in 1648, by act of the English parliament, omitting some sections and chapters. The next
year, the Scottish parliament ratified the Confession without amendment.
In 1660, the restoration of the British monarchy and of the Anglican episcopacy resulted
in the nullification of these acts of the two parliaments. However, when William of Orange replaced the Roman Catholic King James II of England, he gave royal sanction to Scottish parliament's ratification of the Confession,
again without change, in 1690.
See also
External link
- The Westminster Confession of Faith
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