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greatest part, received their Faith from the Church of Rome; and that we still professed that very Faith which St. Gregory the Great himself professed, and fent us by his Apostle Auguftine the Monk. But that others of our Ancestors, and other parts of our Country, received the Faith from Bishops and Priests who did not receive it from the Roman Church; and that I was ready to make Proof of this before any Roman Prieft. She also took an occafion to fpeak of the Reformation as brought about by King Henry VIII. upon whofe Vices the reflected in the ufual manner, as Roman Catholicks are wont to do, and indeed as they deferved. To this I replyed, That King Henry dyed a Roman Catholick, that it was not he, but his Son King Edward VI. who, under God, was the happy Inftrument of our Reformation; but that if it had been King Henry VIII. fince God doth often bring about his Purpofes by the inftrumency of the worst Men, the Vices of that Prince would have been no good Argument against the Reformation, becaufe it was the Duty both of Prince and Priefts, and People, to contribute their joint Endeavours to fo good and necessary a Work. I told her Ladyfhip farther, that the Queftion between the Roman Catholicks and us ought to be, Whether there was juft Cause for a Reformation? and if there was, the Vices of the Reformers were foreign to the Queftion, even as foreign as the Crimes of Conftantine the Great, with which fome Hiftorians tax him, were foreign to his Reformation of the Pagan World into Chriftianity, for which I fuppofed her Ladyship would not deny, but there was just Cause, and that it was a blessed Work. After Dinner the Gentleman who invited me, pray'd her Ladyfhip to give him leave to ask her, if he was already reconciled to the Church of Rome; because if fhe were not, but was free to hear the Divines of the Church of England, he told her I would be willing to difcourfe with her

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from time to time in the Audience of any of the Ro man Religion, or otherwise, as fhe pleafed, in order to refettle her in the Church, to whofe Communion fhe had been for many Years fo firm, and a great Ornament. This gave me occafion to tell her, that I thought her Lady fhip obliged in Honour and Duty to give the Church of England a fair and impartial Hearing before he parted from it, and in order to

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t to compare the Doctrine, and Worship, and Polity of the two Churches together, which I would willingly help her to do, that she might the better difcern which of them was the most Apoftolical, Pure and Primitive, and that it concerned her Salvation to hearken to my Advice, because the Moment fhe was reconciled to the Church of Rome, fhe must be anfwerable to God, for all the Errors, Innovations and Corruptions, with which we charged it, and have fo often made good our Charge. She was pleased to thank me for the offer of my Affiftance with the Civility of a Perfon of Quality and good Breeding, and fo we parted at that time.

After he went up to her Chamber I had farther Difcourfe with the Gentleman of the House about her; which gave me occafion to defire him to tell her Ladyfhip that I recommended two Books to her reading: One of which was, The Effay towards a Propofal for Catholick Communion, lately published by a (pretended) Minifter of the Church of England, printed at large, and answer'd Chapter by Chapter I recommended this Book to her, becaufe I found the was deceived with fuch Fallacies as are in the Effay, which the Roman Catholicks recommended to all Proteftants, before this Anfwer to it was published, and perhaps ftill do. The other was a Book of feveral Letters, which paffed between my felf and a Romish Prieft, printed for Richard Sare at Gray's-Inn-Gate, with Bishop Bull's Anfwer to the Bishop of Meaux's Letter to Mr. NelTen. This Book I fent to the Gentleman for her Lady

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fhip, with a Letter directing to fome places, which I defired more especially her Ladyship fhould read: The first place was that in p. 72. where I have fhew'd, That we ftill keep that very Faith which St. Gregory professed. And the other begins at

p. 188. where I challenged the Adversary with whom I then had to deal, to fhew Antiquity, Univerfality and Succeffion for their Trent Doctrines, or that they were involved in any of the Prime Principles or Articles of the Christian Faith, which I told him, if he could do, I would reverence, own, and honour the prefent Church of Rome as much as himfelf, and think her as pure Catholick and Apoftolick as she was in the Primitive Times. Thus things rested for a while, till I received from her Ladyship the following Letter.

SIR,

November the 29th 1707.

Hen I inform you that I am the Perfon

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about a Fortnight fince at Mr. Ps, hope it will incline you to pardon this Trouble, when I tell you that I beg your leave that I may wait on you, in order to one Hour's Conference, which may, perhaps, be a means of removing fome Scru- › ples and Doubts I lie under. And if it may ftand with your convenience, I propofe to Morrow, after Evening Prayer, at your own Houfe; to which I beg the favour of an Answer by the Bearer; by! which you will oblige

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I returned Answer by the fame Meffenger who brought me her Ladyfhip's Paper, that the Hour fhe appointed was very convenient, and that I would then wait for her. She came attended with adworthy Gentleman of the Church of England, B 3

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who conducted her to my Houfe, and I both of them up to my Study; where after common Forms upon fuch Occafions, fhe began with a ferious Air to tell me, that it was not Curiofity, but the regard fhe had for her eternal Salvation, that put her upon her new Enquiries, her Intention being at last to choose that Communion, in which the thought her Soul would be fafe. Having reply'd, that our concern for the Soul was certainly of all others the greateft, fhe proceeded to give me an account of the dif-affections the had entertained against the Church of England, which were the very fame that all Apoftates from it are wont to object, before and after they are reconciled. She began to object the great number, and daily encrease of Herefies, Schifms, and religious Divifions, and Sub-divifions among us fince the Reformation; whereas the Church of Rome was in perfect Peace and Unity, and had but one Faith and one Worship, in which Roman Catholicks agreed all over the World. When fhe had finished this Objection I interpofed, and told her fhe had made it very feasonably, as to the Person and Place, because I could reach her a little Book, of which, though it were of my own Wri ting, I would prefume to fay, that I had perfectly anfwer'd that Objection, and that if her Ladyship would read it, I doubted not, but fhe would receive full fatisfaction from it, and be convinced of the Folly and Weakness of arguing from the English Herefies and Schifms, against the Church of England; and I pray'd her to fhew the Book to any of her new Guides, and tell them I challenged them to answer it, if they could. Hereupon I reached the Book, which the promised me to read, and in her following Letter of February 2, you will find her acknowledging, that it had fo fatisfied her, that fhe would never more conclude, that Divifions and Separations were a Mark of an erroneous Church. Yet three Months afterwards the urged the fame Objections against

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the Church of England, to a learned Divine of her Acquaintance, a Fellow of a College in Oxford: So hard a thing it is for People, who trufting to their own Understandings, let themselves be led into Error, to get out of the enchanted Circle, and return unto the Truth. The Title of the Book, of which I have been speaking, is, An Apologetical Vindication of the Church of England, in answer to her Adverfaries, who reproach her with the English Herefies and Schifms, printed at London in a fecond Edition, 1706. From this Objection her Ladyfhip proceeded to the Neceffity of having an infallible Judge,which fhe faid, the Church of England deny'd, owning her felf to be Fallible; and this, faid fhe, is a great difcouragement from continuing in her Communion. Then the proceeded to object against the private Spirit of interpreting Scriptures and Fathers, and the Abfurdities and Inconveniencies which, fhe faid, followed upon it; and then obferved as another Objection, that the Proteftants were not in Communion with one another; and in particular, that our Church was not in Communion with any other Church; an Objection, which I think is well anfwer'd in the Letter of a Lady converted from Popery, printed in this Collection. Some other Objections fhe made, which being of lefs Moment I have forgot; but that upon which the put the greateft ftrefs, was her Objection against the Validity of our Ordinations, which was altogether of the fame nature, and to the fame purpofe with what you will find the hath written in her Letter of February 17. When fhe had done objecting fhe thanked me for my Book of Letters, which paffed between me and the Romish Prieft, and told me, that which made the greatest Impreffion upon her, was what I had written at the 188th and following Pages, concerning the Novelty of the Roman Faith ; but then fhe told me, that in Answer to it, fhe had brought a Paper, of which fhe defired my Thoughts as

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