What is "westminster assembly"

Westminster Assembly \West"min`ster As*sem"bly\ See under Assembly.

Assembly \As*sem"bly\, n.; pl. Assemblies. [F. assembl['e]e, fr. assembler. See Assemble.]

1. A company of persons collected together in one place, and usually for some common purpose, esp. for deliberation and legislation, for worship, or for social entertainment.

2. A collection of inanimate objects. [Obs.]
   --Howell.

3. (Mil.) A beat of the drum or sound of the bugle as a signal to troops to assemble.

   Note: In some of the United States, the legislature, or the popular branch of it, is called the Assembly, or the General Assembly. In the Presbyterian Church, the General Assembly is the highest ecclesiastical tribunal, composed of ministers and ruling elders delegated from each presbytery; as, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, or of Scotland.

   Assembly room, a room in which persons assemble, especially for dancing.

   Unlawful assembly (Law), a meeting of three or more persons on a common plan, in such a way as to cause a reasonable apprehension that they will disturb the peace tumultuously.

   Westminster Assembly, a convocation, consisting chiefly of divines, which, by act of Parliament, assembled July 1, 1643, and remained in session some years. It framed the ``Confession of Faith,'' the ``Larger Catechism,'' and the ``Shorter Catechism,'' which are still received as authority by Presbyterians, and are substantially accepted by Congregationalists.

   Syn: See Assemblage.

The Assembly was called by the Long Parliament before and during the beginning of the First English Civil War. The Long Parliament was influenced by Puritanism, a religious movement which sought to further reform the church. They were opposed to the religious policies of King Charles I and William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury. As part of a military alliance with Scotland, Parliament agreed that the outcome of the Assembly would bring the English Church into closer conformity with the Church of Scotland. The Scottish Church was governed by a system of elected assemblies of elders called presbyterianism, rather than rule by bishops, called episcopalianism, which was used in the English church. Scottish commissioners attended and advised the Assembly as part of the agreement. Disagreements over church government caused open division in the Assembly, despite attempts to maintain unity. The party of divines who favoured presbyterianism was in the majority, but political and military realities led to greater influence for the congregationalist party. Congregationalists favoured autonomy for individual congregations rather than the subjection of congregations to regional and national assemblies entailed in presbyterianism. Parliament eventually adopted a presbyterian form of government, but it lacked the power the presbyterian divines desired. During the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, all of the documents of the Assembly were repudiated and episcopal church government was reinstated in England.

The Assembly worked in the Reformed Protestant theological tradition, also known as Calvinism. It took the Bible as the authoritative word of God, from which all theological reflection must be based. The divines were committed to the Reformed doctrine of predestination—that God chooses certain men to be saved and enjoy eternal life rather than eternal punishment. There was some disagreement at the Assembly over the doctrine of particular redemption—that Christ died only for those chosen for salvation. The Assembly also held to Reformed covenant theology, a framework for interpreting the Bible. The Assembly's Confession is the first of the Reformed confessions to teach a doctrine called the covenant of works, which teaches that before the fall of man, God promised eternal life to Adam on condition that he perfectly obeyed God.