Smith, Paul Joseph2024-07-112024-07-111975https://hdl.handle.net/2144/49070[The purpose of this dissertation is to analyze the debates on church government at the Westminster Assembly of Divines, 1643-1646. The major primary sources are the official minutes of the assembly and the personal memoirs of three participants: John Lightfoot, George Gillespie, and Robert Baillie. This is a historical, descriptive, and critical study. The Westminster Assembly was summoned to advise the Long Parliament on reforming the doctrine, liturgy, and government of the Church of England. For more than a year the ministers struggled to devise the best form of church government--one that would conform both to the Bible and to the practice of other Reformed churches. Their recommendations were supposed to provide the basis for parliamentary legislation on the church.]en-USThis work is being made available in OpenBU by permission of its author, and is available for research purposes only. All rights are reserved to the author.Church governmentChurch of EnglandThesis/Dissertation