The Cambridge Platform

The Cambridge Platform was a doctrinal statement for the Puritan Congregational churches in Colonial America. It was drawn up in August, 1648 by a synod of ministers from Massachusetts and Connecticut, which met pursuant to a request of the Massachusetts General Court. The New England authorities desired a formal statement of polity and a confession of faith because of the current Presbyterian ascendancy in England and the activities of local Presbyterians such as Dr. Robert Child.

The declaration endorsed the Westminster Confession -- except with regard to ecclesiastical organization, instead upholding the existing Congregational form of church governance followed by the pilgrims and Puritans. "There is no greater church than a congregation which may ordinarily meet in one place" it says, indicating that the congregation itself is the highest level of ecclesiastical authority. The Cambridge Platform remained the standard formulation in Massachusetts through the 18th century and in Connecticut until the Saybrook Platform of 1708.

It makes a clear distinction between the power of the state and that of the congregation. While a civil magistrate is obliged to follow a Christian life, and while the magistrate does have the power to convene a church synod for the purposes of admonishing a church or removing it from the communion of churches, the civil magistrate should have no power within the governance of the church itself, nor compel people to attend. The platform is at pains to say that church government stands in no opposition to civil government. That said, this separation of church and state is vastly different than what one finds by the 19th century in America. For example, the platform urges that "idolatry, heresy, blasphemy... open contempt of the word preached, profanation of the Lord's Day... and the like are to be restrained and punished by civil authority."