R*o 发帖数: 3781 | 1 by Dave Hunt
The Westminster Assembly
Dort was followed in 1643 by a similar prestigious gathering of "divines" in
England. The Westminster Assembly was also under the auspices of the state.
That Assembly formulated The Westminster Confession of Faith, which has bee
n called "the most systematically complete statement of Calvinism ever devis
ed." 51 Vance reminds us that "Due to the close relationship between Church
and state that existed at the time, the acceptance of Calvinism in England,
culminating in the Westminster Assembly, is deeply intertwined with the civi
l and religious history of England." 52 A brief word about that history is i
n order.
In the two preceding centuries, England had gone through a long struggle to
escape Rome. At times she made progress, at other times she fell back into b
ondage. Henry VII had been proclaimed king in 1486 by a papal bull of Pope I
nnocent VIII. The Latin Vulgate was the official Bible. Wycliffe's Bible was
suppressed, and the Provincial Council at Oxford in 1408 had forbidden the
translation and printing of "any text of Holy Scripture into the English or
other language...." 53 Henry VIII, who had written to Erasmus from London in
1511 that "many heretics furnish a daily holocaust," 54 at the behest of Cr
omwell reversed himself and encouraged the Bible in English to be opened in
every house and parish church - but a year before his death banned "the New
Testament of Tyndale's or Coverdale's translation." 55
During his brief reign, King Edward VI turned England away from Rome and wel
comed Reformed theologians from the Continent to England, giving Calvinism a
foothold there that it would never relinquish. In the late sixteenth centur
y the University of Cambridge became a Calvinist stronghold. Edward's sister
, Bloody Mary, succeeding him, brought England back under popery, forbade po
ssession of any Protestant books and burned at the stake those who would not
accept Rome's doctrines.
After Mary's death, the Geneva Bible came into use. Elizabeth I expelled the
Jesuits from England. Under her, the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of
England (mildly Calvinistic, but rejecting limited atonement) were formulate
d; they remain the official creed of that church to this day. John Knox held
forth in Scotland, while the Puritans rose in England, only to be forced to
conform by King James, who gave us the King James Bible in 1611.
Charles I succeeded James. There were debates in Parliament over Calvinism,
with its proponents gaining the upper hand. The Long Parliament ordered the
printing of a book by John Owen which denounced Arminianism and upheld limit
ed atonement. It was in the context of this tumultuous background and the co
ntinued partnership of the church with the state that the Westminster Assemb
ly was convened by Parliament. The Parliament "waged a civil war against the
king ... abolished episcopacy, ejected two thousand royalist ministers ...
summoned the Westminster Assembly, executed Archbishop Laud, and eventually
executed the king himself in 1649." 56 | D**E 发帖数: 280 | 2 这个信条是改革宗的圣经,改革宗信徒把它凌驾于圣经之上
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【在 R*o 的大作中提到】 : by Dave Hunt : The Westminster Assembly : Dort was followed in 1643 by a similar prestigious gathering of "divines" in : England. The Westminster Assembly was also under the auspices of the state. : That Assembly formulated The Westminster Confession of Faith, which has bee : n called "the most systematically complete statement of Calvinism ever devis : ed." 51 Vance reminds us that "Due to the close relationship between Church : and state that existed at the time, the acceptance of Calvinism in England, : culminating in the Westminster Assembly, is deeply intertwined with the civi : l and religious history of England." 52 A brief word about that history is i
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