WESTMINSTER STANDARDS. I. The Westminster Confession. History in Engla~

The Westminster Standards-i.e., the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Westminster Catechisms-are the doctrinal formulas prepared by the Westminster Assembly of Divines (1643-49), and have been adopted by the churches of English, Scotch, and Scotch-Irish origin which follow the Presbyterian system.

I. The Westminster Confession: In its original form, as it left the assembly and was presented to parliament, the Westminster Confession consisted of thirty-three chapters. On giving up the attempt to revise the Thirty-nine Articles (q.v.), the assembly, at the injunction of parliament (Aug. 20, 1644),

appointed a committee to "prepare a joint Confession of Faith," the committee including such men as Thomas Gataker, Joshua Hoyle, William Gouge (qq.v.), and the Scotch commissioners in a body. Its progress was delayed by a contention between parliament and the assembly over the right of office-bearers to withhold the communion from those who seemed to them to be ignorant or scandalous, and on July 22, 1646, an order was sent to the assembly " desiring that it hasten the perfecting of the Confession of Faith and the Catechism because of the great use they might be for the suppressing of errors and heresies and for informing

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the ignorance of the people." Nineteen heads were completed and sent to the house of commons Oct. 9, 1646, of which 500 copies were or-

r. Origin dered printed by the house. On Dec.

of the 4, 1646, the whole work was finished Confession. and sent to the commons, and three days later to the lords, the assembly being authorized to have 600 copies printed. On Apr. 29, 1647, the house of commons ordered Scripture proofs added, and 600 copies of these were ordered struck off. Finally, in 1648, the Confession was approved by parliament with the exception of chapters xxx, and xxxi., and parts of chapters xx. and xxiv., these portions bearing on church censures, synods, marriage and divorce, and liberty of conscience. Thus amended, the document was .printed in London under the title Articles of Christian, Religion approved and passed by both Houses of Parliament after advice had with the Assembly of Divines. In spite of the action of parliament, the Confession has been uniformly printed in Great Britain as well as in America in the form in which it left the assembly, and in this form it was adopted by the Scotch assembly in 1647, and by the Scotch estates of parliament in 1649, the latter ordering that it and the two catechisms be published and printed.

The Confession opens with a definition of the Bible as the only rule of faith and practise, and with the proofs by which it attests its authority, and closes with a chapter on the last judgment. It is the clearest, strongest, most logical, and most careful symbolical statement of the Calvinistic scheme of Christian doctrine, and represents the rigorous philosophical type of creedal statement as compared with the Heidelberg Catechism and Bullinger's Second Helvetic Confession, or with the Thirty-nine Articles, while, on the other hand, it

z. Descrip- is not so rigid as the Canons of the tion and Synod of Dort. It proceeds from the Sources. idea of God's sovereignty and his de crees, and does not by distinct treat ment give sufficient prominence to the fatherhood and love of God. Its definitions, starting with the divine foreknowledge and election, may easily be interpreted to nullify the free offer of the Gospel to all men and to deny the readiness of God to re deem all sinners willing to repent. These objec tions have been met by the Declaratory Statements of the Scotch Churches and the Revision of the American Presbyterian Church (North).

For a long time it was the received opinion that the Westminster Confession bore the stamp of Dutch Theology and of Turretini (q.v.). Even the younger McCrie (Annals of English Presbytery, London, 1872, p. 177) took this position, but Mitchell (Westminster Assembly, Philadelphia, 1897, pp. 370 sqq.), Schaff (Creeds, i. 762 sqq.), and Briggs (Presbyterian Review, Jan., 1880) have shown this view to be untenable. The Confession is based upon a thorough study of the Scriptures, the Continental Reformed theology, the earlier English and Scotch confessions, and more particularly upon the Irish Articles of Archbishop Ussher (q.v.), several sections, such as those on the Scriptures, the Trinity, the decrees, the Lord's Supper, and the civil

Westminster Assembly

Westminster Standaras

magistrate, being drawn largely from the Irish statement, as well as such expressions ~s "the man of sin," applied to the pope. It must be also remembered that a large number of English catechisms; strongly doctrinal, had proceeded from Presbyterian and Puritan sources, and that William Twisse (q.v.), Gataker, and other members of tie Westminster assembly were trained theological disputants and writers. As for subscription to the Confession, it remains a matter of doubt whether "the English section of the Westminster divines intended anything more than that the document should be a norm of teaching. On the other hand, the:! Scotch insisted upon subscription, a course adopted by American Presbyterianism, though in a relaxed form.

In England, where parliament 'formally established Presbyterianism in 1647, the,, Confession was modified under the Protectorate, aid was set aside when episcopacy, with the Thirty-nine Articles and the Book of Common Prayer, were restored under Charles II., in 1660. In Scotland'I the parliament of 1690 again "ratified and established the Confession of Faith as the public and avowed confession of this Church," and in the Act of Union of the two kingdoms in 1706-07 the Confession was declared "forever confirmed in the Church of Scotland," even as " the Presbyterian government " was declared to be " the only government of the Church within the realm of Scotland." The Scotch assemblies of 1690, 1699, 1';700, 1704, etc.,

3. History required all ministers and probationers in England of the Gospel having license to preach,

and and all ruling elders, '.to subscribe to Scotland. the Confession without amendment; and this remained law' in the churches of Scotland till 1879, when the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland took the initiative in adopting an explanatory statement, or Declaratory Act, intended to "set forth more fully and clearly" some doctrines of Holy Scripture in regard to whose statement in the Confession a demand had been made that they be freed from certain real or apparent inconsistencies with the Scriptural scheme. The act included seven clauses emphasizing (1) God's love to all mankind and the free offer of salvation to men without distinction; (2) that the doctrine of decrees is to be held in ',connection with the statement that God desires that all men should come to repentance, and that " hej has provided a salvation sufficient for all, adapted tb all, and offered to all in the Gospel "; (3) that the doctrine of native inability does not imply that men in the state of nature are not responsible to Godj s law and to the Gospel; (4) that it is not to be held that God may not extend his grace to persons outside the pale of the preached Word, or that all who die in infancy may not be saved; (5) that all intolerant and persecuting principles of action within the Church or by magistrates are disavowed, ands that any, statement in the standards teaching such principles, need not be approved; (6) that the Church is, to preach the Gospel to every creature; and' (7) that liberty of opinion is to be allowed in matters which are not of the substance of the faith, such'. as the interpie= tation of the six creative days. the United Presbyterian Church was followed by the Free Church

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in 1892, which passed a Declaratory Act that was substantially the same. In 1894, to remove objections made by the Highlanders, the Free-church assembly passed a supplementary act by which it was left open to office-bearers to take the Confession either with the Declaratory Act or in its original and unmodified form. The Church of Scotland, in 1889 and 1890, also modified the rigor of subscription by going back to the formularies of subscription enjoined prior to that imposed by the General Assembly of 1711; and on the union of the Free and United Presbyterian Churches into the United Free Church in 1900, the Declaratory Acts of both uniting bodies were approved. The English Presbyterian Church, through its synod in 1890, adopted twenty-four Articles of the Faith, this result being reached after the attempt to prepare a Declaratory Statement had been abandoned. To the Articles of the Faith was subsequently added an "Appendix" of six chapters, taking up matters which do "not enter into the substance of the faith," these being questions of polity, worship, and administration. In 1892 the Synod decided that acceptance of the Westminster standards by office-bearers should be modified by reference to the twenty-four Articles of the Faith, the aim in the preparation of which was, while retaining the essential features of Calvinistic doctrine, to lay the emphasis on the love of God in his Gospel.

In America Congregational Churches, through the Cambridge Synod and Platform of 1648, declared that the synod " had perused and considered with much gladness of heart and thankfulness to God the Confession of Faith published of late by the Reverend Assembly in England, and do judge it to be very holy, orthodox, and judicious in all matters of faith, and do therefore freely and fully consent thereunto, for the substance thereof,". with the exception of matters of church " government and discipline " as set forth later on in the platform itself. In general these changes were in accord with the amendments made by the Savoy Declaration to the disciplinary sections of the Con-

4. History fession. The American Presbyterian in America. Churches early adopted the Confession and the Westminster Catechisms. The Synod of Philadelphia, in its Adopting Act of Sept. 19, 1729, formally approved these standards by demanding the acceptance of them, either by subscription or by verbal declaration, " as being, in all essential and necessary articles, good forms of sound words and systems of Christian doctrine, and do also adopt the said Confession and Catechisms as the confession of our faith." In case a candidate had scruples about articles that the synod might regard as unessential, they were not to be a bar to his acceptance, and the same friendship and brotherly love were to be extended to such persons as if they had expressed no differences. This action was the result of a compromise between the Presbyterians of New England antecedents led by Jonathan Dickinson (q.v.), and those of Scotch-Irish antecedents the latter demanding strict subscription. In 1736, the synod, returning to the subject, affirmed the acceptance of " the good old doctrines contained in the Confession without the least variation or alteration," except in chapters xx. and iii., which bear on the authority of the civil magistrate, since the new American Constitution here required some modifications; and the General Assembly, at its first session in 1789, approved a revision of articles xx., xxiii., and mod., and a small amendment in the Larger Catechism, while it also prefixed to the Form of Government a preamble in which the rights of conscience in religious matters were pronounced universal and inalienable, and declared that all religious constitutions should have equal protection from the law. The assembly laid upon ministers the duty " of adopting the confession as containing the system of doctrine taught in the Scriptures, and their approval of the government and discipline of the Presbyterian Church in these United States." The reunion of the two branches of the Presbyterian Church, the Old School and the New School, in 1869 was upon the basis of the Confession and other standards of the Church as interpreted in their historic sense. The Cumberland Presbyterian Church modified the Confession and Catechisms in 1814, especially in the statement of the decree of predestination, and again subjected them to revision in 1883. The incorporation of a large part of the Cumberland body in the Presbyterian Church of the United States of America in 1906 was on the basis of the acceptance of the Confession as then authoritatively held by the mother body. A movement toward revision of the Confession failed in 1889-93, but a second movement was successful, resulting in the Revision of 1903, by which chapters xxxiv, and xxxv. on the Holy Spirit, and the Love of God and Missions were added, as well as a Declaratory Statement of 250 words which modifies chapter iii. concerning the decrees of God, and declares that " Christ's propitiation was for the sins of the whole world," and that God is ready to bestow saving grace on all who seek it. With reference to chapter x. it also declares that all infants dying in infancy are included in the election of grace. Changes were likewise introduced with regard to the nature of the works of the unregenerate (chap. xvi. 7), in regard to oaths (xxii. 3), and in the wording of chapter xxv. in regard to Christ's sole headship over the Church. Here the epithet applied to the pope-" that man of sin "-was struck out. In 1887, the clause (chap. xxiv. 4) forbidding marriage with a deceased wife's sister had been struck out. The Presbyterian Church of the United States, commonly called the Southern Presbyterian Church, is now engaged in making a small number of changes.

II. The Westminster Catechisms: The Westminster Catechisms are two in number: a large Catechism for ministers, to be explained from the pulpit according to the custom then prevailing in the Reformed churches on the Continent; and a short Catechism, for the instruction of children. Both were presented-to p ra liament for examination and approval in the autumn of 164

,x,~and were printed under the title The Humble Advice of the Assembly of Divines now by authority of Parliament sitting at Westminster, concerning a Larger (Shorter) Catechism, etc. ffiqliament aggroyed_the books, with slight exceptions, Sept,.1,.1648; the Scotch Kirk

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adopted them in_j_ llyl 1648, and again (after a temporary repeal under Charles II.) in 1690. In its acts approving the Catechism, the r. History Scotch Assembly_ declared,_ thp-Laxge.r. and (July 2, 1648) to. be " adirectory .Iol'. Character. catechizing such as have made some proficena_in_ the, knowledge of the, grounds of religion,"and the Shorter (July 28, 1648) " to be a directory jo weaker .capacity," both being adopted as "being agreeable to the Word of God, and in nothing con trary to the received doctrine, worship, discipline, and government of this kirk." Anthony. 'j,~gcknoy .. (q.v.) had the chief share,in framing_the:~LaFger. C_a_techism, and...Walli9,..the mathematician, in giv ing the Shorter-Catechism its severely logical finish. Both Catechisms contain an exposition Qf the Ten - Commandments and the Lord's Prayer, and an in dependent sttement of the --Christian -system of doctrine after- the Calvinistic type. The Apostles' Creed is not, as in other Catechisms, made the basis _ of the doctrinal expositions, but is appended "be cause it is a brief sum of the Christian faith, agree able to the word of God, and anciently received in the churches of Christ." The Shorter Catechism has often been regarded as the. ripest.produ9t:of Puritan.expe_riencQ tend thm-_, ological thought. It closed the period of greatest catecheticai fertility in England, when Puritan divines for a quarter of a century had been issuing catechetical manuals, as many as twelve or perhaps fourteen such divines, including Samuel Rutherford and Herbert Palmer (qq.v.), having sat in the Westminster Assembly. Of some of z. The these catechisms there are direct traces Shorter that use_was_ made, the most influential Catechism. perhaps being the Chief Grounds of Christian Religion set down by the way of Catechizing by .Ezekiel Rogers, written before 1638. the date when the author emigrated to America. Back of this series, .oi..catechisma ware Tnhn Craig's (q,v.). Scotch Catechism, g,nd,-more cane- II cially, Calvin's.Cat,egU sin, whose first question de termined the content of the first question and an swer of the Shorter Catechism. The Shorter Cate chism is, with Luther's Small Catechism and the Heidelberg Catechism, the most extensively used catechism in Protestant Christendom. It exceeds all other catechisms by the terse brevity and pre cision of the questions and answers, and differs from most by the following peculiarities: (1) It embodies the question in the answer,- so this a complete ,proposition -'or- statement; (2) it substi tutes a new and_._logioal_order of topics. for the old historic order of the Apostles' Creed; (3) it deals in dogmas rather than facts_,,and addresses..the..i31tc1-. lect. rather than the heart; (4) it puts the questions in an impersonal form, instead of addressing the learner directly; (5) and to this may be added the theological and metaphysical character of the an swers. No ecclesiastical attempt has been made to revise the Westminster Shorter Catechism. In 1908 the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (North) appointed a committee to prepare a catechism " to be used for home instruction and in the Sabbath-schools, and to be simpler in lan-

guage than the Shorter Catechisms" but it was distinctly stipulated that it should not be " one of the standards of the Church."

PHILIP SCHAFFt.

D. S. Schaff.

Bibliography: As sources consult: A.i F. Mitchell and J. Struthers, Minutes of the Sessions of the Westminster Assembly of Divines . . (Nov., 1644 to Marclc, 1649), London, 1874; J. Lightfoot, Journal of the Proceedings of the Assembly of Divines, from January 1; 1643, to December 31, 1644, in Whole Works, ed. J. R. Pitman, vol. xiii. 1344, ib. 1$25; G. Gillespie, Notes of Debates and Proceedings of the Assembly of Divines and other Commissioners at Westminster, from Feb. 1644 to Jan.' 1646, Edinburgh, 1848, cf. idem, Aaron's Rod Blossoming, London, 1646, Edinburgh, 1843; Journals of the hose of lords and the house of commons from 1643 to 1640; State Calendars (James L, Charles L, Commonwealth,; Charles II.), London, 1857 sqq.; W. Camden, The Annals . , of King James 1., viz. from the Year 1603 to . . , 1623, in W. Kennet, The Complete History of England, ii., ib. 1706; Acts and Proceedings of the General Assemblies of the Kirk of Scotland . . 1660-1618, ed. T. 'Thomson, 3 vela., Edinburgh, 1839-45; B. Wbitelockej Memorials of the English Affairs . . from the Beginning of the Reign of Charles the First to Charles the Second, London, 1732; E. Sawyer, Memorials of Affairs of State . . . Collected (chiefly) from the . . . Papers of . . . Sir R. Winwood, 3 vela., fol., ib. 1725; W. Laud, Diary, in vol. i. of Remains, ib. 1695, also in Library of Angle-Catholic Theology, iii., 7 vela., Oxford, 1847-60; Mrs. L. Hutchinson, Memoirs of Colonel Hutchinson, with . . . a Summary Review of Public Affairs, 7th ed., London, 1848; J. Rushworth; Historical Collections . . from 1816 to 1648, 8 vols. fol., ib. 1721; E. Cardwell, Documentary Annals of the Reformed Church of England . . from the Year 1646, to the Year 1916, 2 vela., Oxford, 1839; R. Baillie, Letters and Journals, ed. D. Laing, 3 vela., Edinburgh, 1841-43; A. F. Mitchell and J. Christie, Records', of the Commissions of the General Assemblies of the Church of Scotland, 2 vela., ib. 1892-96 (covers the years 1646 to 1649); A. Peterkin, Records of the Kirk of Scotland, containing the Acts and Proceedings of the General Assemblies . . . with Notes, etc., ib. 1838.

On the history consult: T. Fuller, The Church History of Britain, from the Birth of Christ until the Year 1648, London, 1655, new ed., vela. v.-vi.,', Oxford, 1845; R. Baxter, Narrative of his Life and Times, published' as ReZiguio: Baxteriano;, 1 vol. fol., London, 1696, an abridgment appearing later, ib. 1702, 2 vela:, ib. 1713, and also found in his Practical Works, 23 vols.,~ ib. 1830; E. Hyde (Clarendon), The History of the Rebellion, 3 vela. fol., Oxford, 1702-04, new ed., 7 vela., ib. 1!849; D. Neal, History of the Puritans or Protestant Nonconformists from . 1617 to . . 1688, 4 vela., London, 1732-38, new ed., 2 vela., New York, 1858; J. Raid, Memoirs of the Lives and Writings of those Eminent' Divines who Convened in the Famous Assembly at Westminster, 2 vela., Paisley, 1811-15; W. M. Engles, A History of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, Embracing an Account of its Principal Transactions and Biographical Sketches of its most Conspicuous Members, Philadelphia, 1841; T. Carlyle, Life and Letters of CromzGell, 2 vela., London and New York, 1845; H. Hallam, Constitutional History of England, chap. vii.-xi., 5th ed., 2 vela., London, 1846; J. B. Marsden, The History of the Early Puritans, from the Reformation to . . . 164°x, ib. 1850; idem' , The History of the Later Puritans, from . . else Civil War in 164 to . . . 1662, ib. 1852; J. Stoughton, Spiritual Heroes; or, Sketches of the Puritans, chap, vi., pp. 1120 sqq., ib. 1850; idem, Church and State Two Hundred Years Ago. A History of Ecclesiastical Affairs in England from 1860 to 1663, ib. 1862; idem, Ecclesiastical History of England, 5 vela., ib. 1867-75; S. Hopkins, The Puritans during the Reigns of Edward VI. and Queen Elizabeth, 3 vela., Boston, 1859-1861; J. Tulloeh, English Puritanism and its Leaders: Cromwell, Milton, Baxter, Bunyan, London, 1861; A. F. Mitchell, The Westminster Confession of Faith: a Contribution to the Study of its Historical Relations and to the Defence of its Teaching, 3d ed., Edinburgh, 1867, cf. his introduction to Minutes . . oJthe Westminster Assembly, ut sup.; idem, The Westminster Assembly, its History arid Standards, London, 1883, 2d ed., Philadelphia, 1897; idem, Catechisms of the Second Reformation: The Shorter

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Catechism of the Westminster Assembly and its Puritan Precursors; Rutherford's and other Scottish Catechisms of the Same Epoch, with Historical Introduction and Biographical Notices, London, 1886; A. T. Innea, The Law of Creeds in Scotland, ib. 1867; D. Masson, The Late of John Milton: Narrated in Connection with the Political, Ecclesiastical, and Literary History of his Times, vol, ii (1871), Bks. III.-IV., vol. iii (1873), Bks. I.-III., 6 vols., ib. 1859-50; T. M'Crie, Annals of English Presbytery from the Earliest Period to the Present Time, ib. 1872; J. B. Bittinger, The Reformation of Our Standards, in the Presbyterian Quarterly and Princeton Review, July, 1876, pp. 387 sqq.; W. M. Hetherington, History of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, 4th ed., Edinburgh, 1878; C. A. Briggs, Documentary History of the Westminster Assembly, in Presbyterian Review, 1880, pp. 127-164; T. Leishman in R. H. Story, The Church of Scotland, Past and Present, v. 307-426, London, 1890-91; idem, The Westminster Directory with an Introduction and Notes, ib. 1901; C. G. MeCrie, The Public Worship of Presbyterian Scotland, § 4, 170-240, ib. 1892; idem, The Confessions of the Church of Scotland: their Evolution in History, Edinburgh, 1907; W. Carruthers, The Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Divines . . . with Historical Account and Bibliography, London, 1597; J. H. Overton, The Church in England, ii. 107-110, ib. 1897; W. H. Roberts, Westminster Standards and the Formation of the American Republic, Philadelphia, 1898; W. Lloyd, The Story of Protestant Dissent and English Presbyterians, London, 1899; W. A. Shaw, A History of the English Church during the Civil Wars and under the Commonwealth, 2 vols., ib. 1900; F. Procter and W. H. Frere, A New History of the Book of Common Prayer, chap. vi., 158-162, ib. 1901; B. B. Warfield, in The Presbyterian and Reformed Review, 1901 (Apr., Oct.), 1902 (Jan., Apr., July, Oct.); W. Beveridge, A Short History of the Westminster Assembly, Edinburgh, 1904; P. Schaff, Creeds of Christendom, i. 701-816 (the editions and translations of the Confession are noted pp. 753-754), iii. 598-704 (text of Confession and Shorter Catechism).

For exposition or doctrinal discussion consult: W. Parker, The Late Assembly of Divines' Confession of Faith Examined . ~ . Wherein many of their Excesses and Defects, of their Confusions and Disorders, of their Errors and Contradictions, are presented, London, 1851; D. Diekson, Truth's Victory over Error; or, an Abridgment of the Chief Controversies in Religion, etc., Edinburgh, 1684, Glasgow, 1725 (a catechetical exposition of the Westminster Confession); idem, A Brief Sum of Christian Doctrine contained in Holy Scripture, and holder forth in the Confession of Faith and Catechisms of the Westminster Assembly, etc., Edinburgh, 1693. Other notable discussions of the Confession are by R. Shaw, ib. 1845; two by A. A. Hodge, Philadelphia, 1869, New York, 1888; J. Macpherson, Edinburgh, 1881; F. Makower, Yerfassung der Kirche in England, Berlin, 1894; Von Rudloff, in ZHT (1850), 238-296; J. Stark, The Westminster Confession of Faith critically Compared with the Holy Scripture and found Wanting, London, 1863; J. T. Goodsir, The Westminster Confession of Faith Examined on the Basis of the other Protestant Confessions, ib. 1868; W. Marshall, The Principles of the Westminster Standards Persecuting, Edinburgh, 1873; B. B. Warfield, Significance of the Westminster Standards as a Creed, New York, 1895; E. D. Morris, Theology of the Westminster Symbols. Columbus, O., 1901; J. Donaldson, The Westminster Confession of Faith and the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church, of England, London, 1905.