The Savoy Declaration (1658)

The Independent recension of the Westminster Confession, adopted by a conference of Independent ministers and churches at the Savoy Palace in London. Chaired by Philip Nye and Thomas Goodwin, the Savoy Declaration adopted the Westminster Confession nearly verbatim on doctrine (including the decree, justification, the law, and the sacraments) but rewrote the polity chapters to replace presbyterianism with gathered-church Independency and softened the magistrate chapters. The Savoy preface (by John Owen) is the most articulate Independent statement of confessional principle. The Savoy became the confessional standard of English Congregationalism and (via the Cambridge Platform and later revisions) of American Congregationalism.