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The Making of the Westminster Confession and Especially of Its Chapter on the Decree of God
威斯敏斯特信条的制定，特别是关于神的预旨的章节
It is the purpose of this article to give as clear a view as possible of the process by which the Westminster Confession was made.
本文的目的是尽可能清晰地展现威斯敏斯特信条制定的过程。
In prosecuting this purpose two tasks present themselves.
在推进这一目的时，摆在面前的有两项任务。
One concerns the modes of procedure of the Assembly in framing the Confession; the other the course of the debates by which it was beaten out.
一项涉及会议在制定信条时的程序方式；另一项涉及通过辩论锤炼出信条的过程。
We shall attempt to give some account of both matters.
我们将尝试对这两个方面都作出一些说明。
The latter offers so wide a field, however, that we shall be constrained to deal with it by sample – and, for reasons which will readily suggest themselves at the present juncture, we shall select the third chapter of the Confession as the sample to be dealt with.
然而，后者提供了如此广阔的领域，以至于我们将不得不以样本的方式处理它——而且，出于在目前时刻容易想到的原因，我们将选择信条的第三章作为要处理的样本。
We shall therefore try first to trace the formal procedure of the Assembly in framing the whole Confession, and to obtain some adequate conception of the labor and time that was expended on it; and then, taking up the third chapter, we shall essay to reconstruct as fully as may be a picture of the actual work of the Assembly in producing it.
因此，我们将首先尝试追溯会议在制定整个信条时的正式程序，并对投入其中的劳动和时间获得某种充分的概念；然后，着手处理第三章，我们将尝试尽可能完整地重构会议在产生它时的实际工作图景。
The amount of time consumed directly on the preparation of the Confession of Faith was certainly very great.
直接用于准备信仰信条所消耗的时间量确实非常大。
But even this does not completely represent the pains expended on this task.
但即使这样也不能完全代表在这项任务上所花费的辛劳。
To estimate that fairly, there should also be taken into account the time and care given formally to other subjects, which yet necessarily conduced indirectly to the perfecting of the final statement of doctrine.
要公正地评估这一点，还应该考虑到正式给予其他主题的时间和关注，这些主题必然间接地促成了最终教义陈述的完善。
Nearly all the labors of the body, from its coming together on July 1, 1643 till the completion of the Shorter Catechism on April 12, 1648, may without exaggeration be said to have had a doctrinal side; and much time was spent in direct doctrinal discussion.
该团体从1643年7月1日聚集到1648年4月12日完成小要理问答期间的几乎所有工作，可以毫不夸张地说都有教义方面的内容；并且大量时间花在直接的教义讨论上。
None of this discussion that was precedent to or contemporary with the formulation of the propositions incorporated into the Confession was lost labor with respect to it.
所有这些在信条所纳入的命题制定之前或同时进行的讨论，就信条而言都不是徒劳的工作。
There were in particular three or four of the tasks of the Assembly, however, which bore so immediately on its preparation for framing the Confession that they deserve especial mention in this connection.
然而，会议的任务中特别有三到四项，与其制定信条的准备工作如此直接相关，以至于在这方面值得特别提及。
Table of Contents
目录
Preface
序言
How the Confession Was Made
信条是如何制定的
The Framing of a New Confession of Faith
制定新的信仰信条
The Work of Preparing Proof-Texts for the Confession
为信条准备证明经文的工作
Tabular Statement of Each Chapter
各章节的表格陈述
Chief References Made in Baillie’s “Letters
贝利”书信”中所作的主要引述
The Formulation of the Third Chapter
第三章的制定