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 568 WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY WESTMORELAND three or four years of its existence. The par- liament ordered the members, Oct. 12, 1643, forthwith to " confer and treat among them- selves of such discipline and government as may be most agreeable to God's holy word, &c., to be settled in this church, in stead and place of the present church government by archbishops, bishops, &c., which is resolved to be taken away ; and touching and concerning the directory of worship, or liturgy, hereafter to be in the church." In compliance with this order, the assembly took up "church govern- ment," so far as it referred to ordination, and on April 20, 1644, laid their advice before both houses of parliament, by whom it was not finally ratified till Oct. 2. The "Direc- tory for Public Worship " was taken up May 21, and on Nov. 20 the greater part was pre- sented to parliament. Marriage, burial, visit- ing the sick, &c., were still behind. On Dec. 8 the part pertaining to marriage was com- pleted, and ordered to bo sent to both houses of parliament. On the last day of the year 1644 the rest of the directory was sent up, and it was established by an ordinance, Jan. 3, 164o. The "Confession of Faith " was sub- mitted in part to the house of commons on Sept. 25, and to the house of lords on Oct. 1, 1646; the remainder was carried up to the commons on Dec. 4, and to the lords on Dec. 7. The house of lords passed the first part of the " Confession of Faith " to a third reading on Nov. 6, and then sent it to the commons for concurrence. On Feb. 16, 1647, the lords passed the remainder, asking the concurrence of the lower house to this also; but owing to political and other disturbances nothing defi- nite was done by the house of commons till February, 1648, and then with such difference as called for conferences, the first of which was held March 22. On June 20 the lords sent in their agreement to all the alterations, except that pertaining to marriage ; and in this form the "Confession of Faith" was adopt- ed by parliament. A copy of this authorized form (omitting chapters xxx. and xxxi., para- graph 4 of chap, xx., paragraph 4 in part and all of paragraph 5 and 6 of chap, xxiv.) is in the British museum. The " Larger Catechism " was sent to the house of commons on Oct. 22, 1647; the "Shorter Catechism" on Nov. 25, 1647. In the autumn of 1648 both houses of parliament ordered the printing and publishing of the "Shorter Catechism," but the house of lords was discontinued before it had acted on the " Larger Catechism." The other papers issued by the assembly consisted only of admo- nitions to parliament and the nation, controver- sial tracts, letters to foreign churches, &c. The annotations on the Bible usually attributed to them, though made in part by some of the members, did not proceed from the assembly at all. Rutherford, the last of the Scottish com- missioners, left the assembly Nov. 9, 1647, Gillespie having left in July of the same year, and the others the year before. In February, 1649, after it had held 1,163 sittings, the par- liament by an ordinance changed what re- mained of the assembly into a commfttee for trying and examining ministers, and in this form it continued to hold weekly sittings till the dissolution of the long parliament, April 20, 1653. The " Directory for Public Wor- ship" was adopted and ratified by the general assembly of the church of Scotland in Febru- ary, 1645, the "Confession of Faith" in Au- gust, 1647, and the catechisms in July, 1648; and these are still the standards of that es- tablishment. They are also recognized by the Free church of Scotland, and by the other seceding Presbyterian bodies in that country. The presbyterian fprm of church government was by vote of the house of commons to bo tried for a year, but was never fully estab- lished in England by legislative authority ; and at the restoration, as none of these acts had received the royal sanction, it was not deemed necessary to pass any act to restore episcopacy to its former authority. The con- fession of faith and catechism are now the standard of the English Presbyterians, and of the Irish Presbyterian church. They have been adopted, with slight alterations, by all the Presbyterian bodies in the United States, and the " Directory for Worship," with some modifications, is in general use in these bodies. The " Shorter Catechism" was also introduced into New England by the early ministers, and formed a part of the " New England Primer," which for two centuries was the book of pri- mary instruction of the children of Puritan families. The Congregationalists, as a denomi- nation, recognize the confession of faith and catechisms as substantially expressing their doctrines. Dr. Thomas Goodwin, a member of the assembly, wrote, says his son, 14 or 15 volumes of notes of its daily proceedings ; there are two volumes by George Gillespie, one of the Scottish commissioners, in the ad- vocates' library, Edinburgh ; also the official minutes of the assembly, in three folio vol- umes, in Dr. Williams' s library, London, edited in part by Al. F. Mitchell. See "History of the Westminster Assembly of Divines " (Pres- byterian board of publication, Philadelphia, 1841); Hethcrington's "History of the West- minster Assembly of Divines" (8vo, Edinburgh, 1843) ; and Neal's " History of the Puritans." WESTMORELAND. I. A S. W. county of Penn- sylvania, bounded N. W. by the Allegheny river and N. and N. E. by the Conemaugh and Kis- kiminetas rivers, and drained by the Youghio- gheny river and Loyalhanna, Jacob's, and Big Sewickley creeks; area, 1,040 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 58,719. The 8. E. part is mountainous, and has a poor soil; the other parts are hilly and fertile. Iron ore, bituminous coal, and salt are very abundant. The Pennsylvania canal passes along the N. border, and the county is intersected by the Pennsylvania, the Pitts- burgh, Washington, and Baltimore, and the Allegheny Valley railroads. The chief pro-