Where to begin

Anyone coming to these documents for the first time may feel a little lost: there are many of them, they are old, and some bear unfamiliar names. These lines are meant to help you find your bearings.

What they are

In 1643, in the midst of civil war, the Parliament of England called an assembly of divines to reform the Church of England according to the Word of God. It met for the first time on 1 July of that year in Westminster Abbey, in London, and that is where its name comes from. There were more than a hundred ministers, joined by some members of Parliament and, after the Solemn League and Covenant of September 1643, by commissioners from the Church of Scotland. In six years of work they drew up what we now call the Westminster Standards, which many Presbyterian churches have held ever since as their rule of doctrine, worship and government.

There are five documents. The Confession of Faith sets out in thirty-three chapters what the Church believes, from Scripture to the last judgment. The Shorter Catechism and the Larger Catechism teach that same faith by question and answer, the one briefly and the other at length. The Directory for the Publick Worship of God orders the worship of the congregation, and the Form of Presbyterial Church Government explains how the Church is governed by pastors and elders, meeting in the assembly of each congregation, in the presbytery and in synods.

Under the heading of Accompanying Documents, the menu also gathers other texts that surround them: those that preceded them in Scotland, the covenants that led to the Assembly, the Directory for Family Worship and the prefaces of the London edition of 1658, among others.

Why they are worth reading

For almost four centuries these documents have been used to teach the faith to children and adults, to train ministers, and to let many churches know precisely what they believed. That is no small thing: the Confession was also the model on which the Congregationalists based the Savoy Declaration, and the Baptists the London Confession. But their value does not lie in their age. It lies in the fact that they set out, with order and clarity, what Scripture teaches, and prove it from Scripture at every step. At a time when many Christians cannot say precisely what they believe, reading them helps us to know the faith, to defend it and to pass it on.

Where to begin

There is no need to read everything, still less in one sitting. The simplest thing is to begin with the Shorter Catechism. It has 107 short questions, and the very first already points to where everything else is heading: “What is the chief end of man? Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.” A couple of questions a day is enough, read or listened to.

After that, the Confession of Faith is a good next step; it says the same things in more detail. Its first chapter, on the Holy Scripture, is the foundation for the rest, and it is well worth starting there. The Larger Catechism then helps you go deeper, above all in what it teaches about the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer. The Directories and the Form of Government can wait until you want to know how that faith is lived out in worship and in the Church.

Each section opens with a short introduction that places the document in its time, and it helps to read it first.

Not everything carries the same weight

There is a great deal of material here, and not all of it serves the Christian life in the same way. Part of it feeds faith. Another part, also of great value, matters above all for knowing the history.

First of all, of course, comes the Bible itself, which these documents do no more than summarize. Alongside it come the psalms, which are the Word of God and which the Directory directs to be sung in the congregation and in the home; the Psalter gathers them with their tunes. Then come the Catechisms and the Confession of Faith, which are the heart of this site. For everyday use two short writings are also a help: the Sum of Saving Knowledge, which was written to explain the way of salvation to plain people, and the Directory for Family Worship.

The Directory for the Publick Worship of God and the Form of Government deal with the order of worship and the government of the Church. Every Christian does well to know them, though they concern more closely those who bear some responsibility in it.

The rest of the Accompanying Documents (the Scottish covenants and the Solemn League and Covenant, the Scots Confession and the Second Book of Discipline, the revision of the Thirty-Nine Articles, the acts of approval, the prefaces of 1658) and the Revisions of the WCF serve above all to understand where these documents came from, in what circumstances they were written and how the churches received them. They are of great value, but they are not the place to begin, and anyone with no interest in history can leave them for later. The Solemn Acknowledgement is a partial exception, because its examination of the sins of a whole nation can also be read with profit for the soul.

How to read them

Slowly. These are seventeenth-century texts, written with great care, and they yield more when read little by little, and read again, than straight through.

With the Bible open. Almost every statement has beside it the passages of Scripture on which it rests. The Assembly added them so that any reader could check for himself that what is said is in the Word of God.

Without confusing them with it. These documents do not set themselves on a level with Scripture: they seek to summarize it faithfully, and they submit to it. The Confession itself says so when it declares that the Supreme Judge of every controversy is “the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture”, and that synods and councils “may err, and many have erred”, so that they are not to be the rule of faith, but “a help”.

And, if possible, in company. They were written to be taught in families and in churches, and they are better understood when read with others, asking about whatever is not clear.

How to use this site

The documents can be listened to in every language of the site except Arabic, and in almost all of them the text is highlighted as it is read aloud; with the play-all button, the sections play one after another. Each document can be downloaded whole as a PDF, and the search box at the top finds any word or phrase in all of them. The site is in fourteen languages, which you can switch from the flag next to the menu, and in the Online Bible there are several versions of the Bible to read, compare and search.

Some words that may be unfamiliar

Elder (or presbyter): An officer of the church chosen by the congregation to govern it together with the pastor.
Presbytery and synod: The presbytery is the assembly of the pastors and elders of several congregations; the synod brings together those of a region or of a whole nation.
Covenant: In doctrine, the relationship God establishes with man, in the covenant of works and in the covenant of grace. In history, the solemn oaths by which Scotland, England and Ireland bound themselves to maintain the Reformed faith.
Prelacy: The government of the Church by bishops and archbishops with authority over the other ministers. The Assembly rejected it.
Civil magistrate: The public authority, whether a king, a parliament or a judge.
Lord's Day: Sunday, which the Confession also calls the Christian Sabbath: one day in seven that God has set apart for worship and rest.
Sacraments: Baptism and the Lord's Supper, the two signs and seals instituted by Christ.