1643 SYDRACH SIMPSON. Westminster Assembly Puritan Argues for Freedom of Religion and Liberty of Conscience.

A superb sermon preached in the heat of the English Civil War by one of the champions of religious liberty among them. Sidrach Simpson [1600-1655] was an Independent in the Westminster Assembly and thoroughly opposed to those Presbyterians who would "replace a Pope with a Presbyter."  He, along with Jeremiah Burrough, William Bridge, etc,. were opposed to legislating the particulars of religion and had deep ties to many of the American Congregationalists who were champions of liberty of conscience, etc.  Check out the extract below. Interestingly, he sees the "reformation" as demanding the need for ongoing flexibility and resisting the temptation to codify present theology and practice as ultimate or final articulation of the faith.  Simpson, Sydrach [Sidrach]. Reformation's Preservation: Opened in a Sermon Preached at Westminster before the Honourable House of Commons, at the Late Solemne Fast, July 26, 1643. London. Printed by Benjamin Allen, and are to be sold in Popes-head-alley. 1