Parentator. Memoirs of remarkables in the life and the death of the ever-memorable Dr.…

He pressed the plain Command of our SAVIOUR, Do This, and could not see, why we should be so Afraid of Disobeying the Command of coming Suitably, as to shake off all Fear of Disobedience to the Command ⟨p. 229⟩which bids us to come as well as we can. But yet he strongly urged the Preparation of the Sanctuary in all that came unto the Holy Table there. He did not look on the Supper of the Lord as designed for a Converting Ordinance; He thought, the Bread there belonged unto none but the Children, and the Living. Though he did not judge it necessary, that a Communicant should have a Full assurance of his being sincerely Converted, yet it was his Judgment, that he should be one who upon Trial might not have cause to Pronounce himself, an utter Stranger to the Work of GOD; and find that he did not Heartily Consent unto the Baptismal Covenant. How Powerfully did he Preach, on Mat. XXII. 12. How camest thou in hither, not having a Wedding Garment? A Process of Repentance, to be first gone through; This he forever insisted on. And then he proposed an Actual Preparation, like what should be in People Advertised, That at such a Time GOD would come down unto them. He would say, when it is Propounded on the Lords Day before it, The next Lords-Day the Holy Supper is to be Administered, it should be even almost as if it were said, You shall Die the next Lord's Day; Prepare to show forth your Lords Death, in some Respects as if you were to meet with your own. His own Custom accordingly it was, for Threescore Years together, to spend a whole Day in Secret Interviews with Heaven, and Praying and Fasting, before the Celebration of the Eucharist. ⟨p. 230⟩Oh, Remember these Things; and let none of you Ear and Drink Judgment unto yourselves, by Unworthy Approaches unto the Table of the Lord. VI. Remember how you have Received and heard, When the ETERNITY into which we are all hastening, has been Declared unto you, Displayed before you. What was there, that your Pastor did with a Countenance like that of an Angel of GOD, more mind you of, than ETERNITY! Eternity! Eternity! He often told you, The Word ETERNITY, is enough to Break the Heart of any one, that will with any Attention look upon it! He often told you, That if you would spend one quarter of an Hour in thinking on ETERNITY, he doubted not, but it would have an happy Consequence!