Directory For Public Worship
The ''Directory for Public Worship'' (known in Scotland as the ''Westminster Directory'') is a liturgical manual produced by the Westminster Assembly in 1644 to replace the ''Book of Common Prayer''. Approved by the Long Parliament, Parliament of England (Long Parliament) in 1644 and the Parliament of Scotland in 1645, the ''Directory'' is part of the Westminster Standards, together with the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Westminster Shorter Catechism, the Westminster Larger Catechism, and the Form of Presbyterial Church Government, Form of Church Government. Origins The movement against the ''Book of Common Prayer'', partly inspired by the English Parliament, had come to a head with the submission of the Root and Branch petition of 1640, which demanded "that the said government (i.e. Episcopal polity, episcopal system) with all its dependencies, roots and branches be abolished." Among the "branches" was the Book of Common Prayer, which was said to be a "Liturgy for the mo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Stephen Marshall (English Clergyman)
Stephen Marshall ( – 1655) was an English Nonconformist churchman. His sermons, especially that on the death of John Pym in 1643, reveal eloquence and fervour. The only "systematic" work he published was ''A Defence of Infant Baptism'', against John Tombes (1646). Early life He was born at Godmanchester in Huntingdonshire, and was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge (M.A. 1622, B.D. 1629). After holding the living of Wethersfield in Essex, he became vicar of Finchingfield. In 1636 he was reported for "want of conformity." Civil War years Marshall was a powerful preacher: Robert Baillie noted that he was reckoned the best in England. He also influenced the elections for the Short Parliament of 1640: Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon considered his influence on the parliamentary side to be greater than that of William Laud on the royalist. In 1642 Marshall was appointed lecturer at St Margaret's, Westminster, and delivered a series of addresses to the Common ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Good And Necessary Consequence
Deductive reasoning is the process of drawing valid inferences. An inference is valid if its conclusion follows logically from its premises, meaning that it is impossible for the premises to be true and the conclusion to be false. For example, the inference from the premises "all men are mortal" and "Socrates is a man" to the conclusion "Socrates is mortal" is deductively valid. An argument is ''sound'' if it is valid ''and'' all its premises are true. One approach defines deduction in terms of the intentions of the author: they have to intend for the premises to offer deductive support to the conclusion. With the help of this modification, it is possible to distinguish valid from invalid deductive reasoning: it is invalid if the author's belief about the deductive support is false, but even invalid deductive reasoning is a form of deductive reasoning. Deductive logic studies under what conditions an argument is valid. According to the semantic approach, an argument is valid if t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Regulative Principle Of Worship
The regulative principle of worship is a Christian doctrine, held by some Calvinists and Anabaptists, that God commands churches to conduct public services of worship using certain distinct elements affirmatively found in the Bible, and conversely, that God prohibits any and all other practices in public worship. The doctrine further determines these affirmed elements to be those set forth in scripture by express commands or examples or, if not expressed, those implied logically by good and necessary consequence. The regulative principle thus provides a governing concept of worship as obedience to God, identifies the set of specific practical elements constituting obedient worship, and identifies and excludes disobedient practices. Overview The regulative principle of worship is held, practiced, and vigorously maintained by conservative Reformed churches, the Restoration Movement, and other conservative Protestant denominations. Historic confessional standards stating the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Samuel Rutherford
Samuel Rutherford (also Rutherfurd or Rutherfoord; – 29 March 1661) was a Scottish Presbyterian pastor and theology, theologian and one of the Scottish Commissioners to the Westminster Assembly. Life Samuel Rutherford was born in the parish of Nisbet, Scottish Borders, Nisbet (now part of Crailing), Roxburghshire, in the Scottish Borders, about 1600. Nothing certain is known as to his parentage, but he belonged to the same line as the Roxburghs of Hunthill (from whom Sir Walter Scott was descended) and his father is believed to have been a farmer or miller. A brother was school-master of Kirkcudbright, and was a Bible Reader there, and another brother was an officer in the Dutch army. Rutherford was educated at Jedburgh Grammar School and the University of Edinburgh. After graduating with an M.A. in 1621, he was appointed regent of Humanity at Edinburgh in 1623. He demitted that office in 1626 because of an accusation of immoral conduct with Euphame Hamilton, whom h ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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George Gillespie
George Gillespie ( ; 21 January 1613 – 17 December 1648) was a Scottish theologian. Family He married Margaret Murray, who had £1000 sterling voted by Parliament immediately after his death, for the support of herself and family, but, owing to the distractions of the time, it was never paid. His children were: * Robert Gillespie, baptised 15 May 1643 (who received ordination from the "outed" ministers. Robert was imprisoned in the Bass for preaching at conventicles (1673). Robert subsequently went to England, and died, his widow and children being recommended by Parliament to the royal bounty, 17 July 1695 *George, baptised 20 May 1644 *Archibald, died in 1659 *Elizabeth (married James Oswald, merchant in Edinburgh, afterwards of Fingleton). Life Gillespie was born at Kirkcaldy, where his father, John Gillespie, was parish minister. His sister was the Quaker writer, prophet and preacher Lilias Skene. He studied at St. Andrews University as a "presbytery bursar". On ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Robert Baillie
Robert Baillie (30 April 16021662) was a Church of Scotland minister who became famous as an author and a propagandist for the Covenanters. . University of Glasgow (multitab page-but image is of James Baillie (1723–1778)) In Baillie's engagement with the theological and liturgical controversies of the mid-Seventeenth Century, Baillie sought to reconcile his strong belief in maintaining Kirk unity with a firm adherence to a Christian doctrine dictated by the divine 'truth' revealed in Scripture. Two large volumes of Baillie's sermons survive in manuscript. He was also conscientious in ensuring that copies were made of his outgoing correspondence and other documents with a view to creating a body of evidence which could be used to prepar ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Alexander Henderson (theologian)
Alexander Henderson (19 August 1646) was a Scottish theologian, and an important ecclesiastical statesman of his period. He is considered the second founder of the Reformed Church in Scotland. He was one of the most eminent ministers of the Church of Scotland in the most important period of her history, namely, previous to the middle of the seventeenth century. Alexander Henderson was born in 1583, and studied at the University of St. Andrews. He was, through the influence of George Gledstanes, Archbishop Gladstanes, presented to the church living of Leuchars, Fifeshire, and was in 1615 inducted forcibly into the charge. He was then a supporter of episcopacy; he subsequently changed his views and became a zealous upholder of Presbyterianism. He opposed the adoption of the Five Articles of Perth in 1618, and resisted the use of the Scottish Prayer Book (1637), Scottish Prayer Book in 1637. He drafted both the National Covenant of 1638 with Archibald Johnston, Archibald Johnston ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Presbyterian'' is applied to churches that trace their roots to the Church of Scotland or to English Dissenter groups that were formed during the English Civil War, 1642 to 1651. Presbyterian theology typically emphasises the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures, and the necessity of grace through faith in Christ. Scotland ensured Presbyterian church government in the 1707 Acts of Union, which created the Kingdom of Great Britain. In fact, most Presbyterians in England have a Scottish connection. The Presbyterian denomination was also taken to North America, Australia, and New Zealand, mostly by Scots and Scots-Irish immigrants. Scotland's Presbyterian denominations hold to the Reformed theology of John Calvin and his i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Thomas Goodwin
Thomas Goodwin ( Rollesby, Norfolk, 5 October 160023 February 1680), known as "the Elder", was an English Puritan theologian and preacher, and an important leader of religious Independents. He served as chaplain to Oliver Cromwell, and was appointed by Parliament as President of Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1650. Christopher Hill places Goodwin in the "main stream of Puritan thought". Early life He studied at Cambridge from August 1613. He was an undergraduate of Christ's College, Cambridge, graduating with a B.A. in 1616. In 1619 he removed to Catharine Hall, where in 1620 he was elected fellow. At this time he was influenced by John Rogers of Dedham. Goodwin rode 35 miles from Cambridge to Dedham to hear this Puritan preacher. In 1625 he was licensed a preacher of the university; and three years afterwards he became lecturer of Holy Trinity Church, Cambridge, successor to John Preston, to the vicarage of which he was presented by the king in 1632. Dissenter Worried by ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Philip Nye
Philip Nye (c. 1595–1672) was a leading English Independent theologian and a member of the Westminster Assembly of Divines. He was the key adviser to Oliver Cromwell on matters of religion and regulation of the Church. Life Philip Nye was born into a middle-class family in Sussex, in about 1595. He entered the University of Oxford as a commoner of Brasenose College on July 21, 1615. Afterwards he went to Magdalen Hall, Oxford where he studied under a Puritan tutor. He graduated from Magdalen Hall with an Arts degree in 1619 and an M.A. in 1622. He then entered holy orders and became curate of St Michael's Church, Cornhill, near London. He fell foul of the episcopal court and fled to Holland, spending the years 1633–1640 in exile. He later held the parish of Acton, and was sent by Parliament on a mission to the imprisoned King Charles I. He was one of the Five Dissenting Brethren in the Westminster Assembly, and a leader of the group alongside Thomas Goodwin. With ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Independent (religion)
In Welsh and English church history, Independents advocated local congregational control of religious and church matters, without any wider geographical hierarchy, either ecclesiastical or political. They were particularly prominent during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms as well under the Commonwealth and Protectorate. The New Model Army became the champion of Independent religious views and its members helped carry out Pride's Purge in December 1648. Unlike their Presbyterian allies, Independents rejected any state role in religious practice, including the Church of England, and advocated freedom of religion for most non-Catholics. Their religious views led some to back radical political groups such as the Levellers, who supported concepts like Republicanism, universal suffrage and joint ownership of property. The Independents later became known as the Congregationalists, who are part of the wider Reformed tradition of Christianity. History At the outbreak of the First Eng ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |