The Worcester House Declaration and the Restoration of the Church of England1

This article examines the Worcester House Declaration, arguably the most serious attempt at comprehension in the Church of England since the Reformation. It describes the negotiations from the Reliquiae of Richard Baxter and from an hitherto unpublished letter of Bishop Morley which centres on the proposal of conditional ordination, which would have been unacceptable to many Presbyterians. It compares the final Declaration with the original draft, demonstrating how far the king was prepared to go to meet historic Puritan demands and to incorporate the proposals made at the time by such moderate Anglicans as Gauden and Stillingfleet. It details the abortive Puritan attempt to pass the Declaration through the Commons, and assesses its status in the context of the royal prerogative.