He was impressive in his mode of administering baptism, which he likened to the taking of a beneficial lease for a child while in the cradle, and putting his life into it. He used the Assembly’s Catechism, and when “he perceived in any of his catechumens symptoms of thoughtfulness upon religious subjects, he specially noticed them, and as soon as there was a competent number, conversed with them severally and apart upon their everlasting interests; afterwards in the solemn Assembly, he catechised them concerning the Lord’s Supper, by a form which he printed.” He next appointed a day in the week preceding the monthly sacrament, in which, before the congregation, he was their intercessor at the Heavenly Throne: a sermon was addressed to them, and the following Sabbath they were welcomed to the Lord’s-table. “Such in his judgment, as in that of his father also, was the true _confirmation_, or transition into a state of adult and complete church membership.” He considered the ordinances of Christ as mysteries, of which His ministers are the stewards, and in admitting any to membership, “they were entrusted with the keys.”[520] Holding this view, he kept in his own hands the exercise of discipline; and on one occasion he pronounced sentence of excommunication on three persons, the act being accompanied by a congregational fast. [Sidenote: 1688–1702.] Neighbouring villages were visited, and periodical lectures established. Twice a year county unions met, when ecclesiastical matters came under discussion. “Affairs of the State or the Established Church were never meddled with.”[521]