He was received at the Door by a Servant,
who was one of that gloomy Generation that were then in Fashion. He
conducted him with great Silence and Seriousness to a long Gallery
which was darkened at Noon-day, and had only a single Candle burning
in it. After a short stay in this melancholy Apartment, he was led
into a Chamber hung with black, where he entertained himself for some
time by the glimmering of a Taper, till at length the Head of the
College came out to him from an inner Room, with half a dozen Night
Caps upon his Head, and a religious Horror in his Countenance. The
Young Man trembled; but his Fears increased when, instead of being
asked what progress he had made in Learning, he was ask'd "how he
abounded in Grace?" His Latin and Greek stood him in little stead.
He was to give an account only of the state of his Soul--whether he
was of the Number of the Elect; what was the Occasion of his
Conversion; upon what Day of the Month and Hour of the Day it
happened; how it was carried on, and when completed. The whole
Examination was summed up in one short Question, namely, WHETHER HE
WAS PREPARED FOR DEATH? The Boy, who had been bred up by honest
Parents, was frighted out of his wits by the solemnity of the
Proceeding, and by the last dreadful Interrogatory, so that, upon
making his Escape out of this House of Mourning, he could never be
brought a second Time to the Examination, as not being able to go
through the Terrors of it.
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