Principal Documents of the Assembly
Facsimile Authoritative Editions1
A CONFESSION OF FAITH
Manuscript; 2nd and 3rd Editions
After manuscript copies of the completed Confession were delivered to the House of Commons and the House of Lords in November 1646, a limited printing (600 copies) of the text was ordered (edition 2) for use of the two houses and the assembly. Four months later, another limited edition was ordered, now including the Scripture proofs demanded earlier by Parliament (edition 3). Prior to these two editions, a partial edition appeared (edition 1), containing the first nineteen chapters and intended solely for Parliament’s use.
A LARGER CATECHISM
1st and 2nd Editions
When the assembly presented the two houses with copies of its finished manuscript in October 1647, like the Confession, a limited printing of 600 copies (edition 1) was ordered and delivered to members of both houses and the assembly. Responding to the House of Commons’ order to add Scripture proofs to the text, the assembly supplied the required Scripture references in April 1648. Parliament followed by ordering a second limited edition of the text with the proofs displayed in the margins (edition 2).
A SHORTER CATECHISM
1st and 2nd Editions
The divines delivered their finished manuscript to Parliament in November 1647, a month after submitting their text for the Larger Catechism. The Commons duly ordered 600 copies of the Shorter printed (edition 1), intended solely for the use of Parliament and the assembly. In addition, the House, following the pattern set with the Confession, again ordered the insertion of Scripture proofs into the margins. Five months later, in April 1648, the assembly returned with the proofs for the Shorter, and another private printing of 600 copies was ordered (edition 2).
PROCEEDINGS OF…THE THIRTY-NINE ARTICLES
Single Edition
Shortly after the assembly convened in July 1643, its first assignment from Parliament was to revise the Church of England’s Thirty-Nine Articles. Although the work was abandoned with only the first fifteen articles revised, Parliament ordered that the partial text be printed alongside edition 3 of the Confession of Faith.
11,[1] p., [London : s.n., 1647]. Thomason: E.516[3]; Wing (2nd ed.): W1444A. (For a transcription of the manuscript, see MPWA,2 5:323-328.)
DIRECTORY FOR PUBLIC WORSHIP
London 1st Edition; Edinburgh 1stEdition
The assembly submitted its Directory for Public Worship to Parliament in installments, with over half of the text appearing with the first submission and the remaining text spread over nine subsequent reports. On 13 March 1645, Parliament ordered the Directory to be printed (1st London), This first edition was followed that same year by several other London editions. While the scribes were undoubtedly careful in overseeing the printing of the first edition, their oversight may have eased over the course of subsequent editions that year. The first Scottish edition (W1549) appeared in May 1645, with its printing ordered by the Generall Assembly and Committee of Estates (Edinburgh 1st edition).
DIRECTORY FOR CHURCH GOVERNMENT
Manuscript; 1647 Edinburgh Edition; 1647 London/Edinburgh Edition
When the assembly drafted its advice “concerning church government,” it approached the work incrementally, for over a year, sending Parliament several sub-directories and an early draft. The final manuscript was presented on July 1645 (document 77, MPWA “Calendar of Papers,” 5:204-221). Contributing to this final draft was the assembly’s earlier “unfinished” draft concerning church government (document 45, MPWA, 5:127-138), and an early directory for ordination (document 20, MPWA 5:63-69). Notably, the assembly’s final form of church government was not the first to appear in print. The 1647 Edinburgh edition contained only documents 45 and 20. Later that year, a new edition, jointly printed in London and Edinburgh (1647 London/Edinburgh edition), added document 77 to documents 45 and 20.
REASONS OF THE DISSENTING BRETHREN
MSS and 1st Edition
Published in February 1645, the first edition was, by order of Parliament, a limited printing of 300 copies. Although entitled, Reasons of the Dissenting Brethren, the single volume actually contains two separate texts. The first is the response of the seven congregationalist dissenters, explaining their objections to the assembly’s proof supporting classical presbyteries. The second part, bearing its own title page, is the Answer of the Assembly to the Reasons of the Dissenting Brethren. Manuscripts for both parts of the text survive in the Braye MSS volume at Westminster College Library, Cambridge University.
THE PSALMS OF DAVID IN ENGLISH MEETER
Single Edition
Work on the psalter began when the House of Commons instructed the assembly to consider adopting a metrical version of the Psalms authored by Francis Rous. The assembly went on to heavily revise Rous’ work, offering its own preface and including further changes submitted by the Church of Scotland. The text, however, went on to serve as the basis for the Church of Scotland’s further revision of the Psalter, which appeared in 1650.
The Psalms of David in English Meeter. Psal. 47. v.7. Sing ye praises with understanding. London, Printed by Miles Flesher, for the Company of Stationers 1646. [6], 255 p. Wing: B2418. ESTC: R175317
1 For the purpose of this collection, authoritative editions refer to those editions in which the printing was either directly overseen by the assembly’s scribes/members; is the only edition to appear or survive; or was first printed in Scotland.
2 Chad Van Dixhoorn, Minutes and Papers of the Westminster Assembly, 1643 – 1652 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010).