The sun. (Wilmington, Del.) 1897-19??, 1898-05-05
WESTMINSTER STANDARDS
Lecture by DIR. Radcliffe in the West
Presbyterian Church,
sary Celebrated.

The Presbyterian Alliance, of Will
mington, last evening celebrated the
25Oth anniversary OF the Westminster
Standards in the West Presbyterian
Church.
A large audience was present and in
honor OF the event the auditorium of the
edifice was prettily decorated with potted
plants and cut flowers.
Among the audience was number of
the prominent clergy of this city. and
the exercises opened and concluded with
singing by the members of the choir
The event Of the evening was the
lecture on Westminster Standards" by
Rev. W. f. Radcliffe. DID,, prominent
minister of Washington, D. C.
After a few eloquent remarks he q
history of the Standards of which ..r
following is part;
The Assembly of Westminster Divines
composed of the most distinguished
clergymen OF England and Scotland OF
that day, met in the celebrated Jernsa-
lem Chamber, at Westminster Abbey in
July 1913, and continued their sittngs
until February 1910 giving to the world,
as result of their labors, the Directory
of Public Worship" the "CoLfessio of
Faith" and the Larger and Shorter
Catechisms," which remain practically
as then adopted, the standards of all
branches OF .Presbyterianism to the
present day.
The handsome chamber in which the
assembly met is one OF the most Gale
brated places in England During the
Catholic supremacy it was occupied as Il
chamber by the A Abbot OF Westminster,
and here Henry ~, when stricken with
his last illness, as he knelt at the shrine
Of the conftssor, on the eve OF his de-
parturc to the Holy Land, was carried
and laid upon the pallet before the
good tyre On recovering conscious
ness, the King asked where he was
Abbot OF Westminster" "Wlat is it's
nane?' he asked. '',jerusalen" was
the REPLY. Then" said the King,
"Laud be to the Father OF heaven, for
now | Know | shall die in this chamber
according to the prophecy OF me afore.
said, that ! should die. in Jerusalem"
Shallespearc's version follows this
closely in his drama Of liking Henry
the Fourth"
King Henry: Doth my name partic-
ularly belong unto the lodging where |
first did swoon?
Warwick: IT'S called JersaIem, my
noble lord.
King Henry: Laud be to God; eveii
there my life must end. 1t hath been
prophesed to me many years, | should
not die but in Jerusalem, which vainly
| supposed the Holy Land; but, bear
me to that chamber, there I'll lie. In
that JurusuIem shall Harry die.
In the reign Of James L., the trans
lator Of the Bible met in this chamber
for the work which terminated in the
publication of the "Authorized Version,
or King James Bible" in 1911. In our
own century it was the scene Of the re-
vision of the Authorized Version. which
began in 1870 and resulted in the pub
Iication OF the Revised New Testament in
1881, and Of the Old Testament in 1855.
OF this last assembly, Dean Stanley
writes: There were bishops OF the
established Church = = = delegates
from our historic cathedras and col
legiate churches, our universities, our
parishes and of our chief ecclesiastical
assembly, and with these, intermingled
without distinction, were ministers of
the Established and of the Free Church
of Scotland, and OF almost every Nom
Conformist Church in England-Inde-
pendent, Baptist, Wesleyan, Unitarian"
The bodies Of the great have at times
laid in state in the Jerusalem Chamber,
among them being Addison, Sir Isaac
Newton and the Poet Campbell. After
800 years the historic apartment is, to all
in a perfect state of preser-
Walton, and will doubtless carry forward
into the coming centuries the associa-
tions which have made it memorable in
the past and invest it with its present
charm.