# Original Manuscript of the Westminster Confession of Faith online



## NaphtaliPress (Sep 27, 2020)

For those who didn't know, the one surviving manuscript of the Westminster Confession of Faith is online for a time. The Braye manuscript contains some additional material as well (parts of the Grand Debate, a couple of things relative to church government that I think I confirmed are in v5 of the Van Dixhoorn minutes). It survived because it was taken and kept in a private collection so did not perish in either the Great Fire of 1666, or, what was not burned then the 1834 fire that destroyed Parliament.








Westminster College : The Assembly’s Confession of Faith presented to the Parliament


Following the outbreak of the English Civil War, the Westminster Assembly of Divines (together with a small cohort of members of both Houses of Parliament) was given the task of reforming the Church of England in its liturgy, discipline and government in 1643. On 26 November 1646 the Minutes of...



cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk

Reactions: Like 7 | Love 1 | Informative 1


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## KMK (Sep 27, 2020)

Interesting. Is it a 'published' work?


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## NaphtaliPress (Sep 27, 2020)

KMK said:


> Interesting. Is it a 'published' work?


I am not sure they have issued a print version. These are the photographs or scans of the original manuscript.


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## C. M. Sheffield (Sep 27, 2020)

Incredible! Very exciting. The script is hard to read. Do you know on what page the Confession begins?


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## NaphtaliPress (Sep 27, 2020)

Yes; click on the table of contents and the confession is the last entry, and clicking that takes you to the first page.


C. M. Sheffield said:


> Incredible! Very exciting. The script is hard to read. Do you know on what page the Confession begins?

Reactions: Informative 1


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## NaphtaliPress (Sep 27, 2020)

NaphtaliPress said:


> Yes; click on the table of contents and the confession is the last entry, and clicking that takes you to the first page.


Great way to learn the 17th century hand btw, since you have the printed text to compare. That's what I did when I transcribed the two surviving versions of the Westminster Larger Catechism.

Reactions: Like 1


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## C. M. Sheffield (Sep 27, 2020)

NaphtaliPress said:


> Great way to learn the 17th century hand btw, since you have the printed text to compare. That's what I did when I transcribed the two surviving versions of the Westminster Larger Catechism.


Indeed. When I read the familiar words of the Confession, the mysterious script, so undecipherable in other places, becomes as plain as _Times New Roman_.


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## NaphtaliPress (Sep 27, 2020)

C. M. Sheffield said:


> Indeed. When I read the familiar words of the Confession, the mysterious script, so undecipherable in other places, becomes as plain as _Times New Roman_.


Well, for me it wasn't "that easy" but yes, it helps a lot!


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