To whom exactly is Gillespie preaching?

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Seeking_Thy_Kingdom

Seeking_Thy_Kingdom

Puritan Board Sophomore
Inspired by the recent post on Gillespie I am currently reading A sermon preached before the right honourable the House of Lords in the Abbey Church at Westminster, upon the 27th of August, 1645 being the day appointed for solemne and publique humiliation.
Half way through he says My second and chief Application shal be unto you, my Noble Lords. I then realized that I do not know who these “Noble Lords” are.

Are they fellow ministers? Or politicians and other lay people?

Edit: A little further it gives me a good idea when it says:
Remember also the fourth Article of your solemn League and Covenant, by which you have obliged your selves, with your hands lifted up to the most high God, to endeavour the discovery, triall, and condign punishment of all such as have been or shall be Incen∣diaries, Malignants, or evil Instruments, by hindering the refor∣mation of Religion, dividing the King from his people, or one of the Kingdoms from another, or making any Faction or Parties among the people contrary to this Covenant.
 
Seeking_Thy_Kingdom said:
So this would have been a closed sermon directed only at the parliament? Would he have been invited to speak or did he arrange it himself?
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Though I cannot say for certain, I would be surprised if Gillespie had invited himself. He was in town for the Westminster Assembly until 1647, so I suppose the renowned Scottish misister was invited to preach in the House of Lords.
 
Seeking_Thy_Kingdom said:
So this would have been a closed sermon directed only at the parliament? Would he have been invited to speak or did he arrange it himself?
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It was in Westminster abbey so I assume it was a larger audience than just the House of Lords. Here is my introduction to the Scottish Commissioners' Fast Sermons before Parliament which includes this one of Gillespie's.

At the time of the Irish insurrection and massacre of 1641, the English Parliament requested King Charles I to appoint a monthly fast for the last Wednesday of every month “as long as the calamities of that nation should require it.” The state of affairs went from bad to worse and the fast was more strictly pressed by the Parliament when King and Parliament became entangled in civil war. As the historian Neal writes: “But when the king set up his standard at Nottingham, the two houses, apprehending that England was now to be the seat of war, published an ordinance for the more strict observation of this fast, in order to implore a divine blessing upon the consultations of parliament, and to deprecate the calamities that threatened this nation.”1 The sermons delivered before each house at these monthly occasions, as well as those preached on other occasions, were ordered published by the Parliament and they form an invaluable contribution to the literature of the time of the English Civil War and the Westminster Assembly. William Hetherington writes:
From this time forward, it was customary to appoint similar fasts, and public sermons before the Houses of Parliament; which sermons were printed​
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1. Daniel Neal, The History of the Puritans (London: Thomas Tegg & Son, 1837; repr. Minneapolis, Minn.: Klock & Klock Christian Publishers, 1979) 2.155.

by order of Parliament, frequently with prefaces before, or postscripts appended to them by their authors; and having been preserved, they form an admirable mass of information regarding the actual sentiments and state of feelings predominant in both the Parliament and [Westminster] Assembly, characterized by all the freshness and trembling earnestness, and intensity of hopes and fears, called forth by the varying vicissitudes of those eventful and fluctuating times.2​
These monthly fast sermons make up a considerable collection of material,3 which would be a daunting task to issue in new editions.
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2. William M. Hetherington, History of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, third edition (Edinburgh: Johnstone & Hunter, 1856) 121.
3. Fast Sermons to Parliament (London: Cornmarket Press, 1970–1971) 34 vols.
 
Thank you Chris. I am trying to imagine what the sermon Would have looked like in the historical context and this was most helpful.
 
The Lords and Commons both invited the Scots commissioners to preach before them once, I think almost always with the Commons getting first invite.
 
Seeking_Thy_Kingdom said:
Thank you Chris. I am trying to imagine what the sermon Would have looked like in the historical context and this was most helpful.
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It's worth noting that the Scottish commissioners' business was with Parliament, first and foremost. They were sent as treaty negotiators under the Solemn League and Covenant. They were there to ensure that what England produced (via the Westminster Assembly) would be acceptable to Church and State in Scotland.
 
TylerRay said:
They were there to ensure that what England produced (via the Westminster Assembly) would be acceptable to Church and State in Scotland.
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This certainly does read as if he is there with a purpose, as if to remind everyone of the necessity of continued reformation and not to be surprised by persecution and sufferings.
 
A quote I wanted to share on mortification of sin:

Secondly, let us once become willing and contented, yea desirous to be throughly mortified. A mans lusts and corruptions are indeed so strongly interested in him, that sin is himself, and his corruptions are his members, therfore when we leave off sin, we are said to live no more to our selves. And morification is the greatest violence that can be done to nature, therefore it is called a cutting off of the chief members of the body, Mark 9.43.45.47. a salting with salt, and a burning with fire, ver. 49. a circumcision, Col. 2.11. a crucifying, Rom. 6.6. So that nothing can be more difficult or displeasing; yea, a greater torment to flesh and blood. Yet now art thou willing, notwithstanding of all this, to take Christ on his own terms, to take him not only for rightous∣nesse and life, but to take him as a refiners fire, & as fullers sope? O that there were such a heart in thee. When Christ bids thee pluck out thy right eye, and cut off thy right hand, say not in thy heart, how shall I do without my right eye, and my right hand. Nay thou shalt do well enough, thou shalt even enter into life without them, thou shalt be a gainer, and no looser. Say not thou, how shall I go through this refining fire: fear not, thou shalt lose nothing but thy drosse. Thus get thy heart wrought to a willingnesse, and a condesending, in the point of mortification.
 
This is my first post.... I finally signed up because I have been studying the circumstances of the English civil war this fall, especially as it relates to the WCF.

Gillespie was preaching to what historians call The Long Parliament.

King Charles I had fled from London in 1642, declaring Parliament to be in rebellion. England had entered a civil war between the King and the Parliament. Likewise, the Members of Parliament [MPs] loyal to the king had fled also, so Parliament in 1645 was dominated almost exclusively with Puritans.

Charles I was generally hated by the English people but was especially disliked by the Puritans. Not only had he declined to reform the Church of England, he had introduced Arminian theology into its doctrine and had severely persecuted the Puritans. In the context of the civil war, then, loyal to the king generally also meant loyal to the Church of England.

In the same year Gillespie preached, Parliament created a professional army, which came to be called the New Model Army. The army was very successful and King Charles I was defeated and captured in 1646. A few years later he was eventually beheaded for treason.

This was the context of Parliament in 1645. A good single resource for some quick reading is www.parliament.uk the official Parliament website.
 
Welcome to the board. So folks know how to address you please fix your signature per the board rules. See under rules tab for the link explaining.
As already noted, Gillespie was preaching to the House of Lords on this occasion. Another preacher that day of the fast (explained above) would have preached to the House of Commons (which would be come known as the Long Parliament).
Watchful Shepherd said:
This is my first post.... I finally signed up because I have been studying the circumstances of the English civil war this fall, especially as it relates to the WCF.

Gillespie was preaching to what historians call The Long Parliament.

King Charles I had fled from London in 1642, declaring Parliament to be in rebellion. England had entered a civil war between the King and the Parliament. Likewise, the Members of Parliament [MPs] loyal to the king had fled also, so Parliament in 1645 was dominated almost exclusively with Puritans.

Charles I was generally hated by the English people but was especially disliked by the Puritans. Not only had he declined to reform the Church of England, he had introduced Arminian theology into its doctrine and had severely persecuted the Puritans. In the context of the civil war, then, loyal to the king generally also meant loyal to the Church of England.

In the same year Gillespie preached, Parliament created a professional army, which came to be called the New Model Army. The army was very successful and King Charles I was defeated and captured in 1646. A few years later he was eventually beheaded for treason.

This was the context of Parliament in 1645. A good single resource for some quick reading is www.parliament.uk the official Parliament website.
Click to expand...
 
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