21711 THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY ITS HISTORY AND STANDARDS BEING The Baird Lecture for 1882 BY ALEXANDER F. MITCHELL, D.D. PROFESSOR OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY, ST. MARY'S College, st. andrews LONDON JAMES NISBET & CO., 21 BERNERS STREET MDCCCLXXXIII [All rights reserved.] PREFATORY NOTE. WHEN appointed Baird Lecturer for 1882, the Author chose as the subject of his Lectures, 'Epochs in the History of the Reformed Church of Scotland.' But the state of his health during 1881, and his desire to complete without delay his researches on the Westminster Assembly-a subject which had engaged his attention for some years, and on which he had previously given lectures on both sides of the Atlantic-led him to ask that he might be allowed to substitute that subject for the one first chosen, and to write additional lectures on it. To this the Trustees most kindly consented, and seven additional lectures were prepared, which with those previously written make up the present volume. His best thanks are due to the Trustees, as well for the indulgence they have shown him as for the kind aid they have promised to help forward the publication of the remainder of the Minutes of the Westminster Assembly. His thanks are also due to old friends at Cambridge, Oxford, and the British Museum for much kind aid in the pro |