Is it a SIN to
Vote for
ROY BLUNT?
|
 The
Westminster Confession of Faith and the Larger and
Shorter Catechisms were written in the 1640's. B.B. Warfield,
professor at Princeton in the late 1800's, wrote of the Westminster
Standards,
[T]hey are the final crystallization of the elements of
evangelical religion, after the conflicts of sixteen hundred
years. . . . [T]hey are the richest and most precise and best
guarded statement ever penned of all that enters into
evangelical religion. . . .
Richard Gardiner, in his impressive collection of "Primary
Source Documents Pertaining to Early American History, lists
many sources which introduce the average American to the
now-unknown religious
foundations of the American Revolution and Government. Among
these sources are the Westminster Standards. Gardiner says of
them:
|
 The
Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) In addition
to being the decree of Parliament as the standard for
Christian doctrine in the British Kingdom, it was
adopted as the official statement of belief for the
colonies of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Although
slightly altered and called by different names, it was
the creed of Congregationalist, Baptist, and
Presbyterian Churches throughout the English speaking
world. Assent to the Westminster Confession was
officially required at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton.
Princeton scholar, Benjamin Warfield wrote: "It
was impossible for any body of Christians in the
[English] Kingdoms to avoid attending to it."
The
Westminster Catechism (1646) Second
only to the Bible, the "Shorter
Catechism" of the Westminster Confession was the
most widely published piece of literature in the
pre-revolutionary era in America. It is estimated that
some five million copies were available in the
colonies. With a total population of only four million
people in America at the time of the Revolution, the
number is staggering. The Westminster Catechism was
not only a central part of the colonial educational
curriculum, learning it was required by law. Each town
employed an officer whose duty was to visit homes to
hear the children recite the Catechism. The primary
schoolbook for children, the New England Primer,
included the Catechism. Daily recitations of it
were required at these schools. Their curriculum
included memorization of the Westminster Confession
and the Westminster Larger Catechism. There was not a
person at Independence Hall in 1776 who had not been
exposed to it, and most of them had it spoon fed to
them before they could walk. |
Search Google for Westminster
Standards.
THE
STRANGE LEGACY OF THE
WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY
My
Credo
|
|