The Saint Paul globe., 1900-06-03
THE WESTMINSTER CONFESSION

| constructed. Here, by act OF the Eng
! lish parliament, there assembled on Sat
urday July 1, 1643 a company of repre-
| sentative churchmen from the various
counties Of England and Wales, Scotland
and Ireland. The ordinance Of parlia-
ment which called the assembly was en-
titled IAN act for the calling Of an as
sembly of Cody divines and others" !"
The Others were LAY assessors" as
they were called, laymen, ten from the
house of lords, and twenty from the
| house Of commons.
The personnel of the Westminster as
sen1bly, the Globe-Democrat says, was
not as grim and Puritanical as one might
! infer from present day discussions. 1t
was picturesque In the extreme. The to-
! tai membership, actively in attendance,
numbered 150 1t included the Scotch
! commissioners, clean shavel and close
! shorn, with snugly fitting coats, waist
| coats which buttoned closely to their
chins, knee breeches and bright buckles
on their low-topped shoes. The English
| lords wore jaunty, richly-colored cloaks,
and carried swords dangling at their
! sides. They occupied comfortable chairs,
which could be moved about at will, while
! all the other members of the assembly
We're seated on immovable benches. Here
| and there was a churchman in full
canonicals. The commoners wore short
! cloaks of somber colors, which gave
! sharp contrast to the gay hues of the
| lords.
The most notable member of the as
sembly was the prolocutor, or. as we
would call him. the moderator, Rev. Will
| liam Twisse, D. D. He was sixty-eight
| years of age, diffident, dreamy and alb
| sent-minded, a man who wrote great Lat
| in folios on theological questions. He
was wholly Indifferent to fame. declining
! all offers of promotion, and dying in his
| humble vicarage in Newbury. DR.. Twisse
was man of fervent prayer. One of his
duties was to make the opening and clos
ing prayers at each days session Of the
| assembly. 1t was while thus impor-
| tunately pleading that he was stricken
with a fatal Illness, and fell back into
his chair to rise no more. Now, at
| length" he said, smilingly, as he was
told he could not get well, 81 shall have
leisure to pursue my studies to all etern-
ity"
AT either side Of the prolocutor were seat
ed the master assessors, or, as we would
call them, vice moderators or vice chair
men. One. DR.. Cornelius Burgess was q
giant in frame and looked every inch a
soldier He was chaplain to the Earl Of
Essex's regiment Of horse in Cromwell S
army. Even during the assemblys ses-
sions he would suspend one of his power
full speeches. which were as overwhelming
as mountain torrents, to go out and min
lister in true Puritan style to the soldiers
in camp or on the field. The other vice
assessor was DR.. Herbert Palmer known
as the little Mr.. Palmer" because of
his diminutiVe stature. DR.. Palmer has
become known as the Father of the
Shorter Catechism.'' Oddly enough.
though he wrote, in large measure, this
catechism with it's stern theology he
was also the most accomplished in polite
literature of the English divines. So
skilled was he In the graces of the
French and oth0 court languages that
all the foreign correspondent was placed
in his hands.
The Scotch commissioners were five in
number, four being ministers and one a
layman. They declined to vote, but took
active part in the debates. Foremost
among these was Rev. Alexander Hender-
son, one of the great leaders in the
Church of Scotland. DIR. Henderson was
moderator of the celebrated general as
sembly at Glasgow in 1888, which the
Marquis of Hamilton, under instructions
from Charles l., undertook to dissolve.
He was in earlier years a minister of the
established church. The congregation in
the parish of Leuchars, Scotland, to
WfDCn ne was sent, refused TO receive
him and locked the church doors. Hen
derson, however, young and active,
climbed in a windon, broke open the
doors of the church and the installation
proceeded. a few weeks later he heard
a sermon preached by the great dissenter,
Robert Bruce, from the text: Verify
verify, l say unto you, he that entereth
not by the door into the sheep fold but
climbeth up some other way, the g d ,
t., ;oF
with this singular text, changed the
whole current of Henderson's opinions
and he became the leader of the Scotch
church in the sanguinary conflict which
followed.
Rev. George Gillespie, of Scotland, was
the youngest member of the Westminster
assembly. He was educated at the eX
penSe of the presbytery at the University
of st. Andrews, and wrote a theological
pamphlet which was burned at the stake.
1t was Gillespie to whom the world is in
debted for the shorter catechism answer
to the great question, What Is GOd?'
The committee on catechism was unable
to frame a satisfactory answer, and, re-
ferring it to the committee of the whole,
that also failed. 1t was proposed that the
youngest member of the assembly lead in
prayer for the help Of the EA~ Spirit.
He began his prayer: 20 God, who art
,
in thy being, wisdom, power, holiness,
justice, goodness and truth" The as
sembly, struck with this sentence, Sc
lected it for the catechism answer to the
inquiry, What is God?"
Other notable members of the assem-
bly, were Samuel Rutherford a scholar of
repute, who, summoned on his deathbed
to answer charge of high treason, sent
Charles II. word: 60, tell your royal
M actaT hot tn
before a higher judge and judiciary than
his, and ere few days arrive I shall
be where few kings and great men ever
arrive;" John Selden, "the learned Sell
den," lawyer, historian, theologian, arch
aeologist, linguist, the foremost scholar
of his day; John Pym. the Puritan lead
er, whose influence brought the Earl of
Strafford to the scaffold; Francis Rouse,
the South of England man, who prepared
the metrical version of the Psalms, to the
music of which the Scotch covenanters
marched; John Lightfoot, Oriental schol-
ar; Stephen Marshall, popular preacher;
Wallis, Of Oxford, the first mathemah-
clan of his day, and many others almost
or quite equally worthy of note.
AS might be expected from the confess
sion, the body was entirely Calvinistlc.
The assembly was not called together 70
form creed. The ordinance of parla-
ment directed that the assembly should
meet to confer and treat amongst them
selves of such matters and things touch
ing and concerning the liturgy, discipline
and government of the Church of Eng
land, or the vindicating and clearing Of
the doctrine of the same from all false
aspersions and misconstructions as shall
be proposed unto them by both or either
of the said houses of parliament, and no
other; and to deliver their opinion and
advices of or touching the matter afore-
said. as shall be most agreeahle to the