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JULY

1, 1643 --England. Charles I has suppressed two bills convening a Synod. A third bill is passed by the Lord and Commons calling for an assembly of “Learned and godly divines to be consulted with by the Parliament for settling of government and liturgy of the Church of England, and for vindicating and clearing of the doctrines of said Church from false aspersions and interpretations.”
      This council will be known as the “Westminster Assembly” and is composed of one hundred and twenty-one divines who have been summoned along with thirty lay assessors among whom are ten lords and twenty commoners. They meet in the chapel of Henry VII at Westminster.
     Five groups are present and represent four types of opinions:     

     1.) The Episcopalians are made up of four prelates among whom is Archbishop James Usshur who has declined the invitation to attend because of King Charles I having forbidden him to do so. Five doctors of divinity are also present. The prelates, however, have been forbidden to attend by the king.
     2.) The Erastians, including Bishop John Lightfoot and John Selden, are present. They regard the State as the final authority in ecclesiastical matters.
     3.) The Independents include such men as Philip Nye, and Thomas Goodwin both of whom have returned from exile in Holland; the latter will become chaplain to Oliver Cromwell. This group of five independents called “the five dissenting brethren” will fight Presbyterianism with great acumen and will withdraw from the Assembly after Presbyterian polity is adopted.
    4.) Mr. William Twisse, Herbert Palmer, who will be the chief author of the Shorter Catechism; Stephen Marshall, and Joseph Caryl, whose commentary on Job will become a classic, represents the Presbyterians.
    5.) Seven commissioners from Scotland will sit in, three of whom are noblemen, along with four ministers. Among them are Alexander Henderson, Robert Baillie, Samuel Rutherford, and George Gillespie. Two Scotch lay delegates are Lord Maitland and Sir Archibald Johnson of whom it is said he often will pray in his family for two hours at a time.
     Also present within this vast assembly is the great grandfather and grandfather of John and Charles Wesley.
     Three delegates have been invited from New England: Mr. John Cotton, of Boston, Mr. Thomas Hooker of Hartford, and Hr. John Davenport of New Haven.
     Today the first meeting is held in Westminster Abbey. Dr. Twisse preaches from John 14:18 --“I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” They assemble at first in the Chapel of Henry VII, then will retire to the Jerusalem Chamber where it will continue to sit.
     The Assembly will meet every weekday except Saturday and will usually sit from nine o’clock in the morning until one or two o’clock in the afternoon. A table stands in the middle of the room where Mr. Twisse, the Prolocutor, sits with the clerks. Benches run down the room on each side. Members of Parliament sit on chairs near the fire. No one is admitted without an order from Parliament. Rules provide that no question be brought to a vote the day it is introduced, and that speakers make good their statements by Scripture. Parliament has nominated the members and has proposed the business of the assembly, and has therefore provided the rules by which it is to conduct business, and will then revise its work.
     They will discuss the custom of drinking of toasts, keeping pictures of God or Christ for devotional purposes, as well as the neglect of family prayer. It will set up an examining board to “try” ministers to be presented to benefices. For this reason it will be known as the “Board of Triers.” Candidates will be summoned before a committee that will meet at eight o’clock in the morning. After being thoroughly investigated, their scholarship tested, they will be required to preach a sermon before the committee which will then report to the Assembly.
     On November 11, 1644, it will recommend to Parliament that Presbyterianism is the only fit and orderly government for the Church of England.
    The fruit of the Assembly will be the Westminster Confession of Faith, as well as the Longer and Shorter Catechisms. They will vary among themselves as to setting aside episcopacy, and setting up of the presbytery, but all will be united in their allegiance to Calvinistic doctrines.

1, 1664 --England. The Act of Uniformity having been directed primarily against non-Conforming ministers in England, today witnesses the First Conventicle Act and is directed principally against the freedom of religious assembly by laity. By this latter, the King and Parliament forbid more than four people to assemble together at any one time for worshipping God contrary to the national way of worship established by authority.
     The penalty of any tried and convicted carries a fine of five pounds or three months imprisonment. For the first offence, a fine of ten pounds or six months imprisonment; for the second offence and the third conviction carries the penalty of being “transported beyond the seas to any of his Majesty’s foreign plantations (Virginia and New England only excepted) there to remain seven years,” or a fine of one hundred pounds. Escape and return without the King’s license will make a felony punishable by death.


 

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