The Saint Paul globe., 1900-06-03

tlnuous and uninterrupted. Often the as
seinply remained seven or eight hours
| without intermission hearing sermons
| praying and psalm singing The PRAYERS
seem 10 modern churchmen almost in
| credibly long, being from one to two
hours in length. DIR. iBaillte gives tb,s
account OF the fast-daY exercises: This
| day-Monday. Oct. 1--we kept a solemn
fast in the place where our sitting is and
! no one with US but ourselves the Scotch
| commissioners and some parliament men
| First, at o'clock in the morning. Mr.
| Wilson gave a picked psalm or selected
| verses Of several psalms, agreeing to the
! time and occasion Then Dr. Burgess
| prayed about one hour; after he had done
! Mr.. Whittacre preached. Then, having
| had another chosen psalm, Mr. Goodwin
! prayed; and after he had done Mr. Palm
| er preached After this sermon we had
| for about an hour. and with another
psalm and a prayer of the Prolocutor
and collection for the manned soldiers,
which arose to eS and Is shillings, we ad.
/ journed, at o'clock, until tomorrow
morning" 1t would be supposed. that
| where such spirit of devotion pervaded
| the assembly all would be dignity and
| quiet. This, however, was by no means
| true. For example, the confusion on the
! floor was sometimes deafenng If two or
more speakers sought the floor at the
same time, instead of the presiding Of
| ficer deciding the question who was Ell.
| titled to the floor, the decision was left
| to the body of the assembly each men,
| Der shouting vociferouSly the name of
| the one whom he desired to hear So, as
! old Robert Baillie informs U.S. 1.-The divinos
| confusedlie call or his name whom they
| desire to heare speake and on whom the
! loudest and manifest voices call, he
| speakes.
England was torn with strife during
| the days Of the Westminster assembly
The long parliament was in session. with
Pym its leader. Oliver Cromwell had
charge of the parliamentary forces which
were struggling with King Charles and
the royalists in the field. 1t was while
this fierce internal conflict shook England
and Scotland that the confession was
framed in all its ruggedness. The assem-
| bly, first attempted revision Of the thirty
nine articles of the established church
This revision" suggests the revision DIS
cussion of the present day. On the 18th
of October, 1643, the assembly had revised
fifteen articles. Parliament then gave the
| assembly instructions to cease it's work
on the articles and begin the government
and liturgy of the church. Meantime the
Scottish commissioners arrived On the
18th of September of the same year. In
accordance with the direction of parlia-
ment the assembly began It's work on the
government and liturgy Of the church in
October. The assembly seems to have Ia
bored on the form of church government
and on the directory for worship at the
same time, during the years 1643 and 1914.
The assembly presented its first report,
a partial one, to parliament on the 24th
of May, 1914. Other partial reports fol-
lowed, and on Jan, 8. 1916. the parliament
gave its solemn approval to the whole
directory, which was to take the place of
4I,a
blys first finished work. The assembly
discussed at length the form of govern
ment, only concluding this part Of the
labor in November, 1914 This was ap
proved by parliament in August, 1913.
Over two years were spent In preparing
and revising the confession Of faith. Com
mittees were named on the 20th of Au-
gust, 1914, but it was not until the 4th of
December. 1647, that the confession was
completed. This was presented to Par
lament by the assembly in a body, the
entire membership marching into the par
lament house. The confession Of faith
was not adopted by parliament until the
following summer, and then not until
some important changes in the suggested
relations of church and state had been
, made. The larger and shorter catechtsms
were next taken up and finished in 164S.
The assembly did not really adjourn final
ly until 1852 having been in session five
years, six months and twenty-five days.
and having held 1.163 sessions. Its real
work was done before 1919, when Charles
J. was executed.
Forty-one different denominations now
hold to the Westminster symbols A
larger number hold them in part. At the
making of the confession the paragraphs
which are now most strenuously objected
to by those who would revise the docu-
ment were adopted with practical
unanimity and without debate. The chief
of these are from the chapter which deals
with predestination, and are as follows:
"3. By the decree of God. for the mani
festation of His glory, some men and
angels are predestined unto everlasting
life, and others foreordained to everlast-
ing death.
-. These angels and men thus predes-
tined and foreordained are particularly
and unchangeaby designed; and their
number is so certain and definite that 1t
cannot be increased or diminished"
The Westminster confession is one of
the latest of the reformed creeds. These
creeds number about thirty, chief among
them being the Heidelberg catechism, the
thirty-nire articles, the Helvetic confess
sion, the canOns of the Synod of bort and
the Westminster confession. They may
be classified in nativity as Swiss, German,
French, Dutch, Scotch and English. The
Heidelberg confession is claimed as the
most catholic of all, presenting less Jag
gedly the angular points Of Calvinism.
This confession is the creed OF the united
Presbyterian Church of North America.
The foundation of the Presbyterian
form of church government is the presby-
terry. The symbols of Its faith are con-
tanned in the Westminster confession. No
one save the officers of the church are
required to subscribe to the confession,
and they only do it as containing the
system of doctrine. This subscription is
required of all as condition of admis-
sion to the Observation-Disclosures as ruling
or a teaching elder. AC-N@on to the
church requires nothing but repentance
of sins and faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ as Lord and Savior except as fndi-
vidual Presbyterian churches may have
prescribed some creed simpler than the
Westminster confession, for the layman
acceptance. A few have done so; most
have not The adopting act by which
Westminster confession and catechism
were made the standard Of the Presby-
terian Church in America was originally
passed by the synod of Philadelphia in
1929 and declared: although the synod
do not claim or pretend to any authority
Of imposing our faith Upon other men s
conscieHces, but do profess our just dis
satisfaction with and abhorrence of such
impositons, and do utterly disclaim all
legislative power and authority In the
church. being willing to receive one an
other as Christ has received us to the
glory of God, and admit to fellowship
in sacred ordinances all such as we have
grounds to believe Christ will at last ad-
nit to the kingdom of heaven, yet we
are undoubtedly obliged to take care tf1at
the faith once delivered to the saints be
kept pure and uncorrupt among US.