But surely, at that moment, such reasons were not wanting.

To unite a scattered flock in one fold under one shepherd, to remove stumbling blocks from the path of the weak, to reconcile hearts long estranged, to restore spiritual discipline to its primitive vigour, to place the best and purest of Christian societies on a base broad enough to stand against all the attacks of earth and hell, these were objects which might well justify some modification, not of Catholic institutions, but of national or provincial usages, [507] The Lower House, having heard this discourse, proceeded to appoint a Prolocutor.

Sharp, who was probably put forward by the members favourable to a comprehension as one of the highest churchmen among them, proposed Tillotson.

Jane, who had refused to act under the Royal Commission, was proposed on the other side.

After some animated discussion, Jane was elected by fifty-five votes to twenty-eight, [508] The Prolocutor was formally presented to the Bishop of London, and made, according to ancient usage, a Latin oration.