dissenters had complained,
and corrected every article that seemed liable to any just objection;
but the opposite party employed all their art and industry to inflame
the minds of the people. The two universities declared against all
alterations, and those who promoted them. The king himself was
branded as an enemy to the hierarchy; and they bestirred themselves so
successfully in the election of members for the convocation, that
they procured a very considerable majority. 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. When they met again, the earl of
Nottingham delivered the king's commission to both houses, with a
speech of his own, and a message from his majesty, importing that he had
summoned them out of a pious zeal to do every thing that might tend to
the best establishment of the church of England, which should always
enjoy his favour and protection. He exhorted them to lay aside all
prejudice, and consider calmly and impartially whatever should be
proposed: he assured them he would offer nothing but what should be for
the honour, peace, and advantage of the protestant religion in general,
and particularly of the church of England.

{WILLIAM AND MARY, 1688--1701.}

THEIR SESSION PROROGUED.

The bishops adjourning to th