English: A meeting of the Westminster Assembly on 21 February 1644. Philip Nye, a member of the independent party, argues that the form of church government advocated by the presbyterians, under which local congregations submit to higher assemblies of elders, was "thrice over pernicious, to civil states and kingdoms". He was immediately "cryed down", according to Robert Baillie, who kept a journal of the proceedings. The painting depicts many individuals who were not members of the Assembly, because when issues of particular interest were debated, non-members would attend as spectators. Josias Shute, however, died before the Assembly met.