Book excerpt: The Westminster Assembly met between 1643 and 1649, appointed to restructure the Church of England and including representatives of the religious leaders of Scotland. This edition of the abbreviated notes (some in shorthand) on what was said and by whom, and the terse summaries of recommendations made and actions taken, can allow us not just innumerable glimpses of men struggling to maintain focus and to translate the lessons of scripture into actions and structures fit for their age and for the time to come, but also a sense of men under intolerable strain and striving to keep unity in the face of innumerable pressures, internal and external, temporal and geopolitical, personal and collective.