A Westminster Bibliography Part 9: Conclusion
Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
7, 8, 9,
10
In the historical overview of the Westminster Assembly's documents we set forth many of the historical, epistemological and hermeneutical considerations that came to bear upon the Westminster Assembly and its work. In the more recent portions of the thesis we examined how some of those considerations resulted in the Westminster documents. Hopefully the relevance of these documents for modern day Presbyterians has been seen as well.
The Puritans of the Westminster Assembly struggled with virtually the same difficulties that face the church today. They ministered to a generation that took the Reformation of the previous century for granted. Today's church must also minister to a generation that has forgotten many or most of its roots. In large measure both their generation and ours deal with men — even men in the ministry — who "take their ease in Zion" and prefer broadness and inclusion to precision and truth.
Jesus accused the church leaders of his day of a strange sort of hypocrisy: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets" (Matthew 23:29-30). In these years which comprise the 350th anniversary of the sitting of the Westminster Assembly we have a similar hypocrisy within most of our Presbyterian denominations.
Many today honor the Westminster Assembly with their lips, but their hearts are far from the religion of the Westminster divines. The Westminster Assembly spoke of a uniform confession based on Scripture alone; they spoke of a form of church government that must find its parameters and form in Scripture alone; they spoke of spiritual worship based upon the truth of Scripture alone. Today's church, however, generally bases its idea of unity upon doing the same thing rather than on speaking the same thing or believing the same thing.
Historic Presbyterianism does not claim the same place for the Westminster Standards that it claims for Scripture. Presbyterianism does not even claim the same place for its standards that some claim for their denominational writings.1 Rather, confessional Presbyterians maintain that a church is united by what it confesses. They maintain that the Westminster standards contain the doctrine that is taught in Scripture; viz. the Reformed faith. A departure from the Westminster Confession of Faith is, to the extent of the departure, a departure from the Reformed faith. A departure from the Form of Government is, to that extent, a departure from Presbyterianism. A departure from the Directory for the Public Worship of God is, to that extent, a departure from Reformed worship.
When modern Christian preachers restore the prophetic function of the church; when Presbyterian pastors again call for God's people to repent; when the churches once more take seriously their biblical mandate; they will be in a position to build upon the work of the Westminster Assembly. Most today who claim that they want to build upon the progress of Westminster actually want to undo the progress of Westminster. Evangelical leaders today are calling upon Evangelicals to stop "proselytizing" Roman Catholics.2 Evangelical and supposedly Reformed churches send troubled people to psychoanalysts. Churches find they must create greater and greater forms of entertainment in order to "satisfy the flock."
What is needed is, indeed, a new Reformation. But when God sends that new Reformation, it is this writer's opinion that it will closely resemble the work done by the Westminster divines. We have their documents — what we lack is the boldness to put them into practice.
1. Many modern cults such as Latter Day Saints, Jehovah's Witnesses and others claim virtual inspiration for their founders' writings.
2. A paper prepared in January, 1994, by Charles Colson et al. entitled "Evangelicals and Roman Catholics Together."
Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
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