The Westminster Confession and Church Unity
Rev. Angus Stewart examines the Westminster Assembly's vision for authentic Christian unity as expressed in the Solemn League and Covenant of 1643, contrasting the Reformed churches' pursuit of doctrinal and ecclesiastical uniformity with King Charles I and Archbishop Laud's imposition of Erastian episcopacy and Arminianism. The article explores how Presbyterian Scotland, English Puritans, and parliamentarians united against false church unity, seeking instead to reform religion in doctrine, worship, discipline, and government according to God's Word. This resource provides historical context for understanding how the Westminster Confession emerged from a genuine ecumenical concern for "the nearest conjunction and uniformity in religion" among the three British kingdoms.
Rev. Angus Stewart Part 1 “The Nearest Conjunction and Uniformity in Religion” The assembly of divines or theologians meeting in Westminster Abbey in London in the 1640s was passionately concerned with true church unity.1 King Charles I (1625-1649), with his “divine right of kings,” and William Laud, the Archbishop of Canterbury (1633-1645), with his “divine right of bishops,” zealously sought to impose a different sort of unity in Britain: a unity in Erastian, Episcopalian, high church,...