Cambridge Platform
CAMBRIDGE PLATFORM
CAMBRIDGE PLATFORM, a resolution drawn up by a synod of ministers from Massachusetts and Connecticut (August 1648), which met pursuant to a request of the Massachusetts General Court. The New England authorities desired a formal statement of polity and a confession of faith because of the current Presbyterian ascendancy in England and the activities of local Presbyterians such as Dr. Robert Child. The platform, written by Richard Mather, endorsed the Westminster Confession and for ecclesiastical organization upheld the existing Congregational practice. The Cambridge Platform remained the standard formulation in Massachusetts through the eighteenth century and in Connecticut until the Say-brook Platform of 1708.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Stout, Harry S. The New England Soul: Preaching and Religious Culture in Colonial New England. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.
PerryMiller/a. r.
See alsoCalvinism ; Congregationalism ; Presbyterianism .
