George Gillespie was one of the Scottish commissioners to the Westminster Assembly and one of the most influential members.
Concerning A Dispute Against the English Popish Ceremonies Obtruded on the Church of Scotland, William Hetherington observes,
'The effect produced by this singularly able work may be conjectured from the fact that within a few months of its publication, a proclamation was issued by the Privy Council, at the instigation of the Bishops, commanding that all copies of the book that could be found be called in & burned by the hangman. Such was the only answer that all the learned Scottish Prelates could give to a treatise written by a youth who was only in his 25th year when it appeared' ('Memoir,' Works of George Gillespie, p. xviii.).
James Bannerman writes,
'This was Gillespie's first work, and it may be truly said to have settled the controversy which called it forth, so far as argument was concerned. No answer to it was ever attempted by the Prelatic party; and no answer was possible. It displays singular acuteness, learning, and force of reasoning; and the thoroughness of the discussion is as remarkable as the power with which it is conducted' (The Church of Christ, vol. 2., p. 435).
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