King James I was not, in the commonly accepted view, a reconciler of religious differences. Yet there is considerable evidence from the first years of his reign in England—the very period of the Hampton Court Conference, which established for him a reputation of intolerance—that James was actively interested in reconciling religious differences. Surviving documents reveal, moreover, that he had a plan for attaining this objective, the essential feature of which was a proposal that an ecumenical council be convened, representing both Rome and the major Reformation traditions.

James referred publicly to his plan in his speech to the first parliament of his reign, on 19 March 1604. In this speech, in which he expressed his gratitude for the friendly reception so far given him in England, he talked at length about the blessings of peace. His coming had brought outward peace, in that the war with Spain had been ended. He had also brought inward peace, in that in him were combined the royal lines of Lancaster and York, and of England and Scotland, which circumstance, he hoped, would mean the end of internal wars in the island. He also talked about religious peace. In the section dealing with Roman Catholics James expressed the wish that the differences between the churches might be reconciled, and he pledged his willingness to help effect such a reconciliation. ‘I could wish from my heart’, he said, that it would please God. to make me one of the members of such a generall Christian vnion in Religion, as laying wilfulnesse aside on both hands, wee might meete in the middest, which is the Center and perfection of all things.