The Supralapsarians

The minority who held that election and reprobation logically precede the decree to permit the fall. Led by the Prolocutor William Twisse (whose Vindiciae Gratiae is the most rigorous Latin defence of the position) and aligned with the Scottish Commissioners (Rutherford, Gillespie, Henderson). Thomas Goodwin, the chief Independent, was also supralapsarian. The Confession's decree chapter (III) was deliberately drafted to permit both supra- and infralapsarianism without imposing either — a latitude that remains confessionally operative in every Reformed body that subscribes to Westminster.