At their first meeting the friends of the comprehension scheme proposed Dr.Tillotson, clerk of the closet to his majesty, as prolocutor; but the other party carried it in favour of Dr.Jane, who was counted the most violent churchman in the whole Assembly.

In a Latin speech to the bishop of London as president, he, in the name of the lower house, asserted that the liturgy of England needed no amendment, and concluded with the old declaration of the barons, "_Nolumus leges Angliae mutari_.

We will not suffer the laws of England to be changed." The bishop, in his reply, exhorted them to moderation, charity, and indulgence towards their brethren the dissenters, and to make such abatements in things indifferent as might serve to open a door of salvation to multitudes of straying christians.
His injunctions, however, produced no favourable effect; the lower house seemed to be animated by a spirit of opposition.

Next day the president prorogued them, on pretence that the royal commission, by which they were to act, was defective for want of being sealed, and that a prorogation was necessary until that sanction should be obtained.

In this interval means were used to mollify their non-compliant tempers, but all endeavours proved ineffectual.