THE Westminster J^sembly: THE EVENTS LEADING UP TO IT, PERSONNEL OF THE BODY, AND ITS METHOD OF WORK AN ADDRESS PREPARED BY ORDER OF EAST HAr>IOVER PRESBYTERY, AND DELIVERED BEFORE THAT BODY APRIL 27, 1897, IN THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF RICHMOND, VA^ BY WILLIAM WIRT HENRY. Published by the Presbytery. S- as, n i^ ^^ ^"^ ^i Hit ®l?enIogf|-a, ^ PRINCETON, N. J. % BX 9053 .A5 H4 1897 Henry, Will iam Wirt, 1831- 1900. The Westminster Assembly THE ^^^ y^ ' Westminster Assembly:* > THE EVENTS LEADING UP TO IT^ ' MAY 23 WU * PERSONNEL OF THE BODY, ANd(^ _,.-^ .- ITS METHOD OF WORK ^Jji}ZV^^ AN ADDRESS PREPARED BY ORDER OF EAST HANOVER PRESBYTERY, AND DEI.IVHRED BEFORE THAT BODY APRIL =7. iSoy, IN THE FIRST PRES- BYTERIAN CHURCH OF RICHMOND, VA. WILLIAM WIRT HENRY. Published by the Presbytery. Whittet & Shkimkrson, General Printers. 1897. ADDRESS Mr. Moderator, and the Venerable Presbytery of East Hanover : IN the ordinance of parliament which constituted the Westminster Assembly, it was stated that the object sought was to effect " a further and more perfect reformation than as yet hath been ob- tained" in the Church oi England ; and, as the result of its labors was the consummation of the Reformation in Great Britain, I deem it proper, before entering upon the history of the body, to sketch raj^idly the condition of the church Avhich led to that memorable movement in the sixteenth century known as the Reformation, and its progress in the British Isles. We will thus be better able to estimate the importance of the work accomplished by the Assembly, by recalling what had been, and what had not been reformed. From the time that Constantine, in the fourth century, embraced Christianity and established it as a religion of the empire, the Bishop of Rome, the capital city, increased in importance and in power in the church. It was the eighth century, however, before he exhibited, un- mistakably, those characteristics which have since distinguished the papacy. In that century the worship of images was enjoined, prayers for the dead began to be offered, temporal power was assumed by the Roman pontiff over territory given him by Pepin, the usurper who filled the thi'one of France, and by his son Charlemagne ; next came rebellion against lawful civil power and arrogant claims of infallibility. The ninth century saw a rapid progression in corruption and in that darkness which covered Christendom so long, and is remembered as the "Dark Ages." Preference was now given to human writings over the Scriptures, the domination of the Pope increased, ceremonies were mul- tiplied in the church as means of salvation, and godly men and women were persecuted. In the next several succeeding centuries even the appearance of moral virtue was lost in Rome, and the church, now governed by worthless prelates, was immersed in profaueuess, sensu- ality, and lewdness. The effort to stem the tide by decreeing celi- bacy of the clergy, only added to their corruption. In the eleventh century the doctrine of transubstantiation was established by the coun- cil of Placentia. The crusades were now undertaken to recover Pal estine from the Mahometans, and salvation was offered as the price of 4 The Westminster Assembly. service in them. The precious doctrine of salvation by grace was denied, and salvation by works was proclaimed. Then came indul- gencies to commit sin, which were sold by the Pope to raise money for what he called the holy war. The power to pardon sins committed, or to be committed, was claimed by the Pope as the vice-gerent of God, acting in the place of and as Deity. The celebrated Cardinal Bellarmine thus states the power claimed by the Pope : " If the Pope could or should so far err as to command the practice of vice, and to forbid virtuous actions, the church would be bound to believe vices to be good, and virtues to be bad." In order to keep the people in ignorance, the reading of the Scrip- tures had been long discouraged, but in 1229 the Council of Toulouse forbade the laity to read the Scriptures, and prohibited their transla- tion. About the same time the Inquisition was instituted for the tor- ture and murder of all who dared to worship God aright, or who fell under the displeasure of the Inquisitors. Monastic orders also had sprung up, whereby a multitude of monks lived on the credulity of the people, charging for their prayers, and for the privilege of kissing the false relics of saints with which they filled their churches and monas- teries. The kings of Christendom were infected with the prevailing super- stition, and sought from the Pope a confirmation of their right to reio-n, and thus became the servants of him who claimed the right to pull down and set up thrones. The emperors had been driven from Rome, and the imperial purple of the Csesars Avas changed for the scarlet of the popes ; and, rich with the reward of iniquity, they lived in more than regal splendor. The church in Great Britain shared in the corruption of the church on the continent. Richard the Lion-hearted, his brother John, and Henry II., attempted indeed to defy the papal power, but each was made to cower before it, and John and Henry were craven enough to hold their kingdoms as a gift from Innocent III., and to pay him trib- ute as his vassals. The doctrine of infallibility of councils and jDopes led to the punish- ment, as heretics, of all who refused to accept their decrees; and the Church of Rome revelled in the blood of holy men who refused to obey her, and who kept the faith once delivered to the saints. The Wal denses, the Albigenses, and the followers of John Huss, in Europe, the Culdees of Scotland, and the Lollards of England, were put to death by the ten thousands, and holy men, such as Jerome of Prague, John Huss, Savonarola, on the continent, and Lord Cobham The Westminster Assembly. 5 in Eugland, were burned at the stake. Wickliif was persecuted while hving, and after his death his bones and his translation of the Bible were committed to the flames. The vision of Saint Jbhn was now fully realized, when he saw the vile woman who sat upon the seven hills of Rome, and debauched the kings and the peoples of the earth: "The woman arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations, and filthiness of fornications, drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." But in the tifteeuth century the scourge of the idolatrous church was sent, as foreseen in the Apocalyjjse: "And the four angels were loosed which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men, and out of their mouths issued tire a.id smoke and brimstone." In the year 1453 the four divisions of the Turkish Empire, already established in Asia, united under Mahomet II. in an attack upon Constantinople, using cannon for the first time in the histoi'y of wars, and in its capture the last of the emperors fell, and the. followers of the false prophet established themselves in eastern Europe, to put to the sword the Christian church. But God, who restrains the wrath of man and makes the remainder thereof to praise him, brought good out of evil, and made the inroad of the Mussulman to work the reformation of the church. The Greek scholars, who had congregated at Constantinople, fled at its fall, and sought refuge in Italy. Aided by the art of printing, discovered in 1440, their teach- ing gave birth to what historians call, "The new learning." It was at first a revival of the study of the Greek masters in literature, but it afterwards extended to the Latin and Hebrew authors Not content with the study of pagan authors, it soon turned to sacred literature. As Hilkiah found the book of the law of the Lord given by Moses, which had been covered by dust and rubbish in the temple, and lain forgotten for years, and which King Josiah brought forth and read to thepeojile, causing them to renew their long-forgotten covenant with God, so the new learning found the completed word of God, long hidden from view in the Romish church, covered by the dust and rubbish of the superstition of the Dai'k Ages, and brought it forth, to be ex- pounded to the people, and to cause them to renew the covenant of grace with Christ as their Redeemer. Soon the people were fur- nished with translations of the holy book in their own language, Luther performing the task for the Germans, Lefevre for the French, and Tvndale and Coverdale for the English. The word of God was. 6 The Westminster Assembly. as ever, a two edged sword, and wherever it was devoutly read Ro- manism felt its keen edge, sickened and died. The papacy was aroused at its danger, and fought for its life, seeking to destroy the pure reli- gion of the word of God by fire and sword; putting to death, when in its power, the men who believed that salvation is the gift of God, offered to all who have faith in his Son. But the conscience, as well as the intellect, of men had been aroused, and the power of the Pope could no longer enslave them. Christian men of great piety and learn- ing boldly led the new movement for a reform in the church. Luther, Melancthon, Zwingle, Erasmus, Oecolampadius, Farel, and last, but not least, John Calvin, on the continent ; Colet, Tyndale, Latimer, and Langton, in England ; Knox and Melville, in Scotland, united in the great reformation of religion. Several powerful princes threw oflf the shackles of papacy and protected the reformers, among them notably Henr}^ VIII., of England, who declared himself to be the head of the church in his dominions. His action was prompted by a quarrel with the Pope, who declined to offend the Catholic king of Spain by divorc- ing his aunt fi'om Henry. Henry never heartily embraced the reformed faith, which at first he had openly antagonized, and seemed to be content to put himself in the place of the Pope in England rather than thoroughly reform the faith of the church. He thus gave a direction to the Reformation in England different from what it had taken on the continent, where prelacy' had been discarded. His great service con- sisted in exposing the immorality of the monasteries and nunneries, breaking them up and confiscating their property, and in requiring the universities to teach the Greek and Hebrew of the Bible, and its the- ology. His pious son, Edward, during his short reign, through Arch- bishop Cranmer, made much greater progress in reforming the church) and settled its articles of faith and form of worship ; but Bloody Mary, his successor, attempted to undo all that had been done, and to restore England to the papacy. Then came Elizabeth, Avho assumed again the headship of the church, and halting at first between Roman Catholicism ai^l Protestantism, attempted a compromise of the two, but finally restoi'ed the reforms of Edward. These, indeed, were only partial, for while the creed was cast in the mould of Calvinism, the liturgy and form of government were cast in the mould of Romanism, though they have been since further reformed by many alterations. During her reign a wonderful change took place in England and Scot- land, by which both became firmly Protestant. By this time the new learning had stimulated in a wonderful degree the intellect, as well as the religious faculties, of the people. It was the period of Raleigh and The Westminster Assembly. 7 Cecil, of Frobisher and Drake, of Coke aud Bacon, of More and Sidney, of Spencer aud Shakespeare, the age in which England began to stretch forth her hand to grasp North America. At Geneva John C;ilvin gave form to Protestant theology and church government with ^n apprehension of his subject not surpassed, if ever equalled, since the days of the Apostle Paul. His pupil, John Knox, carried his teaching to Scotland, and changed Roman Catholicism there into Presbj'terianism. In England Calvinism pervaded the Protestant movement in spite of the prelacy of the established church. The old Catholic priesthood gave way to new ministers who were ultra Pro- testant, of the Geneva school; and the universities, from being the nests of papists, became the hotbeds of Calvinism. Eminent scholars occupied the professors' chairs, and imparted the learning which ap- peared afterwards in the translation of the Bible in the reign of James, aud in the Westminster Assembly' in the reign of his successor. The threat of the Spanish king to invade England aroused a spirit of pa- triotism which pervaded Catholics as well as Protestants, and the defeat of the Armada raised the power of the queen to its highest pitch. She exercised it by requiring all of her subjects to accept the doctrines of the established church, and to ^vorship by its forms, and persecuted both Catholics and Pui'itans for non-conformity. Puritanism had now become a power in the land, and its rise and development are of the greatest interest Under the reign of Bloody Mary Protestants fled from her persecutions, and found refuge on the continent. In the cities of refuge which protected them, they organ- ized English churches. In these churches there arose controversies as to church worship and clerical vestments. One party desired to disturb as little as possible the orders of the English church, while the other desired to reform that church by ridding it of all that it re- tained of Romish forms. Calvin endeavored to reconcile the pai'ties, and advised a ritual of greater purity than that established by Edward, John Knox, who led the extreme party, was satisfied with the ideal of a liturgy purified of human tradition, and when the exiles returned to England after the accession of Elizabeth, this party became known as l^uriUois. They at first only attempted to purify Protestant worship, but the effort of Elizabeth to enforce uniformity caused them not only to antagonize the forms but the doctrines of the Anglican church. Under the iufiueuce of Cartwright, their great leader, the Puritans became Presbyterians in theory, and sought to assimilate the Church of England to the Calvinistic churches of the continent. A small fraction of them urged local church government, and were 8 The Westminster Assembly. known as Independents. On the other hand the high churchmen, led by Bancroft, now first ckimed apostoHc succession and divine right for the Anglican church, a claim not made by Cranmer and his prelates. As the controversy progressed, the high church party, in their antagonism to the Puritans, became Arminiaus in theol- ogy, while the Puritans held more firmly to Calvinism. But there was another most important difference between the contending parties. Geneva was a free commonwealth, and the English exiles who found refuge there became no less devoted to civil libert}^ than to the faith of Calvin. On their return to England they became the stoutest foes to t\ranny. James, who had been rebuked by Melville, when he attempted as king of Scotland to lord it over the kirk, de- clared, after mounting the throne of England, in favor of prelacy, saying: "A Scottish Presbytery as well fittith with monai'chy as God with the devil ! No Bishop ; no King! " The Anglican church thereafter supported the Stuarts in their efforts to blot out the liberties of England, while the Puritan dissenters, by whatever name they were called, stood for civil liberty and a church cleansed from all popish impurities. The indebtedness of the world to the Puritans is incalculable The liberty in church and state which has been the outgrowth of their sti-uggle has not blessed Great Britain alone, established as it was by the Revolution of 1688, which put Wil- liam and Mary on the throne, and made the England of the present day. It was embodied in the liberal charters under which English- men peopled North America, and its full development is seen to-day in the civil and religious liberty we enjoy, the beneficence of which all Europe feels. In the persecutions which the Puritans experienced un- der James and Charles, they were driven to an austerity in manners and religious faith which their enemies have used in the attempt to make them despicable in the eyes of the world. But, while not free from the frailties of human nature, they were immeasurably superior to the men with whom they contended ; and they numbered in their ranks, and in their allies, sooner or later, some of the most accom- plished men of their age, men far removed from the narrow-minded fanaticism ascribed to their party in Butler's Iludihras and Claren- don's War of the Rebellion. Such were Elliott, Hampden, Pym, Rus- sell, Sidney, Vane, Hutchinson, Essex, Milton, Selden, and Hale. Indeed, it seems that it was the regiments of the " Invincibles " of Cromwell, organized by him on the principle of religious enthusiasm, little short of fanaticism, which has given the impression of Puritanism which has so largely prevailed. But whoever desires an accurate pic- The Westmixsi er Assembly. 9 ture of the real Puritau will find it in the delightful memoir of Col. Hutchinson by his clever widow. James I. attempted through his Court of Ecclesiastical Commission to destroy Puritanism, but he unwittingly did more to increase the numbers and zeal of the party than any one had ever done. One of his earliest acts was the appointment ot a commission of learned men to make a new translation of the Bible. In IGll they completed their work, and gave the accurate and beautiful translation which has held its place among English-speaking people until our own da}'. Upon its appearance, as has been said by one of her great historians, "Eng- land became the people of a book, and that book was the Bible." It became familiar to every Englishman, and its truths, clothed with the foi'ce and beauty of its language, kindled a startling enthusiasm. Everywhere one heard theological questions discussed, and the Bible quoted, and the claims of prelacy and royalty to divine right ceased to be respected in proportion to the enlightenment of the people. Heed- less of the rising storm, the king became more and more despotic, de- claring all to be Puritans who opposed his claim to absolute jDreroga- tive. Perceiving that the Puritans were Calvinists, he took into his favor those who embraced Arminianism, and thus brought about two hostile combinations, the one composed of those who advocated des- potism in the state and error in the church, the other of those who advocated civil liberty and Sound theology. He had for his active agent Bancroft, now the Archbishop of Canterbury, who deposed a great number of ministers because of their Calvinistic faith, and filled their places with Arminian divines, ready to do his bidding. So general was this, that when one was asked what Ai'minians hold, he replied wittily, but truly, "all the good places in the church." The nation, already disgusted by the truckling policy of the king toward Catholic Spain, became alarmed at the persistent efforts to establish despotic powers in church and state, and tlie ranks of the Puritans were soon filled with men who before had shown no sympathy with them in their sufferings for conscience' sake, but who were not willing to relinquish that civil liberty which had been the boasted inheritance of English- men. Charles succeeded his father in 1(125, while the nation was in this perturbed state, and, with what seemed a judicial blindness, not only attempted to rule with increased despotism, but showed himself utterly unprincipled by breaking every promise made to his parlia- ments for redress of grievances, by which he had induced them to grant him supplies. Two most dangerous men became his trusted 10 The Westminster Assembly. counselors, Archbishop Laud and the Earl of Strafford. Laud claimed for the Anglican bishops divine right as the successors of the apostles, and the bishops' courts persecuted every one who denied the claim. The king having married a pajDist, the daughter of the French king, was believed to be inclined to that faith, along with Laud, and their increased severity towards the Puritans strengthened that belief in the minds of the people. Strafford was the embodiment of tyranny, and he deliberately planned to make Charles the absolute ruler of England, independent of, and superior to, parliaments, and to put the estates and personal liberties of the whole people at the disposal of the crown. For eleven years no parliament was called, and in the meanwhile large sums were exacted by illegal means, and men who claimed civil rights were thrown into prison. Two incidents occurred in the meanwhile which brought the con- flict between Charles and the peojDle to an issue. The one was the patriotic resolve of John Hampden to resist the collection of the illegal tax demanded of him by the king's officers, for which judgment was pronounced against him by a subservient court, and he cast into prison. The corruption of the highest court in the kingdom, which thus decided against the express provisions of Magna Charta and the Bill of Eights, consented to by Charles himself, added fuel to the flame already kindled. The other incident led directly to the bursting out of that flame, which destroyed the faithless king and his wicked advisers. At the instance of Laud, the king attemped to force upon Presbyterian Scotland the whole mass of prelatic rites and ceremo- nies. The Dean of Edinburgh, at the bidding of the king, attempted to introduce the English liturgy in Saint Giles in the presence of the privy council, magistrates, and a large body of people, on Sunday, July 23, 1G37. A plain woman, Jennie Geddes by name, outraged at the service, hurled the stool on which she had been sitting at the head of the dean. A tumult arose in the congregation, and the out- burst of popular indignation soon pervaded Scotland, and the clergy were unable to proceed with the service they had been commanded to use. The people entered into a covenant to oppose prelacy and up- hold Presbyterianisixi, which was eagerly signed throughout the king- dom. It is known as the National Covenant of 1638. Charles at once raised an army to put down the Scottish rebellion, as he called it, but he found a Scottish army at the boi-der ready to meet him, with which he deemed it better to make a truce, which he did not intend to keep. But to subdue Scotland he was forced to raise more money than he could gather from forced loans and other illegal exactions, and mimmm The Westminster Assembly. 11 reluctantly he called a parliament. This body, knowing the treachery of the king, demanded redress of grievances before granting supplies, and the king, in anger, dissolved it, and threw the leading members into prison. The convocation of the established church now came to his aid, a d raised for him a considerable sum of money. With this he broke faith with the Scots, and marched an army northward again to subdue them. He found himself anticipated before he reached the border; for the Scots, aware of his design, had marched their army into England Unable again to cope with them, Charles arranged a cessation of hostilities for two months, with a promise to support their army in the meanwhile. He soon found his treasury exhausted and himself forced to summon another parliament, to meet in the fall of 1640. The English spirit had been now fully aroused, and the people returned their ablest and most determined leaders; nor has England ever had abler or more patriotic men. John Pym was the leader in the House of Commons, and there never has been a greater parlia- mentary leader. The necessity of a thorough reform in church and state was recognized, and the body set at once to work to effect it. Laud was impeached and sent to the tower, to be afterwards executed, and the ministers he had displaced were restored to their livings. Strafford was attainted and brought to the block. The courts of the Star Chamber and of the High Ecclesiastical Commission were abol- ished. The exaction of forced loans was declared illegal; the judg- ment against Hampden was annulled, and a bill was passed which declared that the parliament should not be dissolved without its con- sent. The Protestant zeal of the body was raised to the highest pitch by a Catholic rising in Ireland, believed to have been favored by Charles, in which it was estimated that lifty thousand Englishmen perished. The king, with his wimttd duplicit}', while formally ap- proving the acts of jDarliament, was secretly plotting with the royalists in Scotland to effect a reconciliation with that kingdom, and obtain its support against the English piirliament. The leaders in that body, finding his strength lay mainly in the established church, took steps to reduce its power and wealth. At first it was not proposed to effect a radical change in its constitution, but onh' to purge it of its popish taints and to curtail the powers of the bishops by the creation of a council of ministers. The first step was the severance of the clergy from all secular or state ofl&ces, and a demand was made, backed by a petition of seven hundred ministers of the church, that the bishops be tjxcluded from the House of Lords. After a severe struggle this was finally effected. To fui-ther reform the church, an act for calling an 12 The Westminster Assembly. assembly of divines was presented to tLe king, which he rejected. The attempt of Charles in person to arrest the five leading members of the House of Commons during its session on January 4, 1642, was the opening scene of the civil war that ensued. Defeated in his effort, the king left London, and raised an army, with which he commenced hostilities with the purpose of crushing the parliament. That bod}' raised an army for its defence, and continued its work of reform, and with that in view, abolished, in one act, the whole of the prelatical hierarchy which had so constantly supported the king in his t^-ranny. Parliament soon realized the need of aid from Scotland and of sym- pathy abroad to maintain the war upon which it was now entered, and as prelacy, so hated north of the Tweed, was now out of the way, it determined to attempt to assimilate the church in England with the church in Scotland and the Protestant churches on the continent, as a first step towards securing that aid. On June 12, 1643, an ordinance was passed by the two houses, to convene on July 1, 1643, an assembly of learned and godly divines and others, to advise with parliament in settling for the church in England its doctrine, government and form of worship. The ordinance sets forth the occasion of its passage as follows : "Whereas, amongst the infinite blessings of Almight}' God upon this nation, none is nor can be more dear unto us than the purit}' of our religion ; and for that, as yet, many things remain in the liturgy, dis- cipline and government of the church, which do necessarily require a further and more perfect reformation than as yet hath been obtained ; and, whereas, it has been declared and resolved by the Lords and Commons assembled in parliament, that the present church govern- ment, by ai'chbishops, bishops, their chancellors, commissaries, deans, and chapters, archdeacons, and other ecclesiastical officers depending upon the hierarchy, is evil, and justly offensive and burdensome to the kingdom, a great impediment to reformation and growth of religion, and very prejudicial to the state and government of this kingdom; and, therefore, they have resolved, that the same shall be taken away, and that such a government shall be settled in the church as may be most agreeable to God's holy word, and most apt to pi-ocure and pre- serve the peace of the church at home, and nearer agreement with the Church of Scotland and other reformed churches abroad; and for the better effecting hereof, and for the vindicating and clearing of the doctrine of the Church of England from all false calumnies and asper- sions, it is thought tit and necessary to call an assembly of learned, godly, and judicious divines, who, together with some members of both The Westminster Assembly. 13 houses of parliament, are to consult and advise of such matters and things touching the premises as shall be proposed, by both or either of the houses of parliament, and to give their advice and counsel therein, to both or either of the said houses, when, and as often, as they shall be thereunto required." The ordinance contained the names of one hundred and fifty-one persons who were to constitute the assembly, of whom ten were mem- bers of the House of Lords and twenty were members of the House of Commons. Thus a hundred and twenty- one were divines, and thirty were laymen. No one of the commission that thirty-two years before translated the Bible for King James appears on the list. If any were alive they were too old for the work. Dr. "William Twisse was named as prolocutor, or moderator, in the ordinance, and he opened the assembly on the day appointed with a sermon on the text : "I will not leave you comfortless," John xiv. 18, delivered in the Abbey church in Westminster before a great congregation, in which sat the members of the two houses of parliament and many of the divines named in the ordinance. The assembly then went into the chapel of Henry VII., where the roll was called. The body continued to meet in this chapel until the approach of winter, when, finding it too cold a place, it adjourned to the Jerusalem Chamber, where the sessions were afterwards held. It was most appropriate to connect the history of this memorable assembly with the venerable Abbey, which is such a depository of all that is great in English histoiy. The first church built upon the spot now occupied by the Abbey was the pious work of Sebert, king of the East Saxons, upon his conversion to Christianity in the sixth century, and is believed to have been intended as a memoi'ial of the visit of Saint Augustine to England when he attacked and over- threw the Pelagian heresy in the native country of its author. The beautiful chapel of Henry VII. was built in 1502, and dedicated to the Virgin Mary by this the last of the media'val kings of England. It has been the burial-place of noarh^ ever}' king since its erection, as the Abbey has been the place of their coronation. This has been beautifully expressed by the poet Waller in the lines, " That antiqiu' pile behold, Where roj-al heads receive the sacred gold : It gives theiu crowns, and does their ashes keep; These made like gods, there like mortiils sleep, Making the circle of their reign complete, These suns of empire, where they rise they set." The Jerusalem Chamber was built by Abbot Littliugton in the 14 The Westminster Assembly. lattei' part of the fourteenth century as a guest chamber for his house, and took its name from the tapestry pictures of the history of the siege of Jerusalem with which it was hung. It had been made memorable by the death of Henry IV. from apoplexy, March 20, 1413, while he was preparing for a visit to the holy land. Shakespeare thus de- scribes the scene: King Henry : " Doth any name particular belong Unto the lodging where I first did swoon?" Warwick : " 'Tis called Jerusalem, my noble Lord." King Henry : "Laud be to God ! even there my life must end. It hath been prophesied to me many years, I should not die but in Jerusalem ; Which vainly I supposed the Holy Land ; But bear me to that chamber; there I'll lie ; In that Jerusalem shall Henry die." Now a body of the most pious and learned men of English history were to occupy these venerable chambers, to restore the pure theology of Augustine; to teach a wicked king that resistance to tyrants is obedience to God ; over the ashes of the greatest and the noblest of the English race, to proclaim the precious doctrine of the resurrection of the dead through a risen Saviour ; to point from this most vener- able but perishing pile to the new Jerusalem, not built with hands, eternal in the heavens. Among the rules for the regulation of the body framed by parlia- ment, two are worthy of mention: 1, That "every member, at his first entry into the assembl}', shall make serious and solemn protesta- tion not to maintain anything but what he believes to be the truth, in sincerity, when discovered unto him"; the other, that "What any undertakes to prove as necessary, he shall make good out of the Scrip- ture." The body at first undertook to revise the thirty-nine articles of the Church of England, and had proceeded as far as the first fifteen when an order came from parliament to proceed at once to the forming of a Directory of Worship and Discipline, and a form of government to take the place of what had been set aside. In the meanwhile impor- tant events had taken place which materiall}' changed the purpose of the assembly. A convention of estates, and a General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland, had been called to meet in Edinburgh on the second of August, in order that the niiairs of that kingdom, both civil and religious, might be put upon a firmer basis amidst the dangers that threatened them. The war had at first gone against the forces of par- liament, and the necessity of obtaining aid from Scotland had become The W'estminsteh Assembly. 15 more pressing. Parliament thereupon sent as commissioners to the two bodies the Earl of Rutland, Sir William Armyn, Sir Henry Vane, Jr., Mr. Hatcher, and i\Ir. Darby. The Assembly jained with them two of its members, Mr. Marshall and Mr. Nye. These commissioners bore letters from the parliament and Assembly, describing the deplor- able condition of the kingdom of England, and supplicating aid in their struggles against the enemies of civil and religious liberty. So touching was the appeal, that we are told it drew tears from the eyes of many of the stur