WESTMINSTER ANNOTATIONS 963 WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY
without with sixteen Gothic towers, beautifully orna- iiieiited and jiittiiijj; from the Abbey at different angles. Here is the magniticent tomb of that monarch and his ([ueen. In the south transept is the well-known Poet's Corner. Every English sovereign since the Conquest lias been crowned in Westminster Abbey, and the corona- tion-chairs and the coronation-stone of Scotland are in the Chapel of Edward the Confessor, Thirteen kings (CJeorge II being the last) and fourteen queens are buried in its pre- cincts. Here also are the remains of Chaucer, S[)enser, Ben Jonson, Dryden, Cowley, Addi- son, Congreve, Prior, (iay, Dr. Johnson, (iar- nck, Sheri<ian, Camp- bell, and Macaulay; _ Handel, Blow, and
W csiniiiister Abbey.
Purcell; of Pitt, Fox, Wilberforce, Grattan, Canning, and Peel — a multitude of the illustrious departed. Palmerston, Charles Dickens, Lytton, and Livingstone are among the latest of the glorious company. There are also memorials to Shakespeare, Milton, Goldsmith, Thackeray, .John and Charles Wesley, and many others whose remains lie elsewhere. Some of the monuments, such as tliat to John, Duke of Argyll, are very impos- ing. The Abbey tills a great place in the political and religious history of England. The Chapter-house was used for three centuries as the meeting -place of the House of Commons, and was thus the cradle of repre- sentative government, and the scene of the chief acts which laid the foundation of the civil and religious lib- erty of England. The Westminster Assembly of Di- vines sanctioned in the Abbey the Confession of Faith which is the recognised creed of the Presbyterian Church (1043-52), and the final alterations in the Book of Common Prayer were made by the bishops in the Jerusalem Chamber in 1662. Roman, Anglican, and Puritan theologians have in turn preached in these walls. In recent times, under the enlightened rule of Dean Stanley, the national character of the Abbey has been well maintained. Officially called the Collegiate CInirch of St. Peter, it is governed by the dean, a chapter and eiglit prebendaries, and other officers. See Neale and Brayley, History unci Antiquities of Ahbei/ Church of St. Peter, Westminster (Lond. 1818, 2 voN.) ; Stanley, Historicul Memorials of Westminster Abbey (ibid. 1876. 4to) ; Uistorical Description of Westminster A bbeif (1878), printed for the Vergers.
Westminster (Assembly's) Annotations. By this name is commonly designated a work bearing the title of Annotations vpon all the Books of the (Md and .\ew Testaments, by the Assembly of Divines (Lond. 1651, 2 vols. fol. ; 3d and best ed. 1657). It was the conjoint work of several eminent ministers, but was in
no respect the product of the Westminster Assembly, except as it is executed in the spirit of their publica- tions, and by persons some of whom had been members of it. The notes on the Pentateuch and on the four gospels are by Ley. subdean of Chester; those on Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, Neheniiah, and Esther by Dr. (iouge; those on the Psalms by JMeric Casaubon ; on Proverbs by Francis Taylor; on Ecclesiastes by Dr. Poynolds; and on Solomon's Song by Smalhvood. The Larger Prophets fell to the lot of the learned (iataker; the Smaller, in the first edition to Pemberton, in the second to bishop Richardson. The eccentric Dr. Featley inidertook the _^ Pauline eijistles, but did not complete
his work ; and Downliam and Reading were both em|)loyed on the work, though what they did has not been specified. The work is more than respectable; some parts, especially those intrusted to Gataker, are done with superior learning and ability; and the wliole, though of various merit, does credit to the piety, schol- arship, and judgment of the authors. — Kitto.
Westminster Assembly of Divines, a name given to the synod of divines called by Parliament in the reign of Charles I, for the purpose of settling the government, liturgy, and doctrine of the Church of England. The Westminster Synod or Assembly of Divines derived its name from the locality in London where it held its sessions, and owed its origin to the ecclesiastico-political conflict between the "Long Parliament" and king "^ Charles I, which resulted in the decap-
itation of Charles, the protectorate of Cromwell, and the events consequent on tliose changes. Tills conflict was, in its religious aspects, a struggle of Puritanism or radical Protestantism against a semi- Romish Episcopal hierarchy and liturgy; in its political bearings, a contest for parliamentary privilege and pop- ular freedom against the monarchical absolutism of the Stuarts. The final result of the struggle was a consti- tutional monarcliy and a moderate episcopacj', with an Edict of Toleration in favor of Protestant Dissenters.
After some unsuccessful attemjjts to obtain the sanc- tion of the king, a joint resolution of the houses of Par- liament was ])assed, June 12, 1643, wliich convoked a synod "for settling the government and liturgy of the Church of England, and for vindicating and clearing of the doctrine of said Church from false aspersions and interpretations," and, furthermore, for bringing about a more perfect reformation in the Church than was ob- tained inider Edward VI and Elizabeth, by which a closer union of sentiment with the Church of Scotland and the Reformed churches of the Continent might be secured. It was intended that it should include among its members adherents of all the chief parties among English-speaking Protestants, except the party of arch- bishop Laud, whose innovations and despotic tendencies had been one main cause of the troubles in Church and State. Parliament appointed to membership in this synod 121 clergymen taken from the various shires of England, ten members of the House of Lords, and twen- ty of the Commons. The General Synod of Scotland, Aug. 19, 1643, elected five clergymen and three lay elders as commissioners to the Westminster Synod. Tiiese, it will be seen, were simply a committee raised by Parlia- ment and amenable to its authority. About twenty of the members originally summoned were clergymen of the Church of England, and several of them afterwards bishops; but few of the Episcopal members took their seats. The bishops of the English Church never ac-