Page:The Works of Samuel Johnson ... A journey to the Hebrides. The vision of Theodore, the hermit of Teneriffe. The fountains. Prayers and meditations. Sermons.v. 10-11. Parliamentary debates.pdf/528

 produces. Without these reflections, often repeated, and made habitual by long and fervent meditation, every one will be in danger of eating and drinking unworthily, of receiving the sacrament without sufficient veneration, without that ardent gratitude for the death of Christ, and that steady confidence in his merits, by which the sacrament is made efficacious to his salvation; for of what use can it be to commemorate the death of the Redeemer of mankind without faith, and without thankfulness? Such a celebration of the sacrament is nothing less than a mockery of God, an act by which we "approach him with our lips, when our hearts are far from him;" and as such insincerity and negligence cannot but be, in a very high degree, criminal; as he that eateth and drinketh thus unworthily cannot but promote his own damnation, it is necessary to inquire,

worthy partaker of the Lord's supper.
 * By what means a man may become a

The method by which we are directed by the apostle to prepare ourselves for the sacrament, is that of self-examination, which implies a careful regulation of our lives by the rules of the gospel; for to what purpose is our conduct to be examined, but that it may be amended, where it appears erroneous and defective? The duty of examination, therefore, is only mentioned, and repentance and reformation are supposed, with great reason, inseparable from it; for nothing is more evident, than that we are to inquire into the state of our souls, as into affairs of less importance, with a view to avoid danger, or to secure happiness. When we inquire with regard to our faith, whether it be sufficiently vigorous or powerful, whether it regularly influences our conduct, restrains our passions, and moderates our desires; what is intended by the duty, but that if we find ourselves Christians only in name, if we discover that the example of our Divine Master has little force upon our constant conversation, and that God is seldom in our thoughts, except in the solemn acts of stated worship, we must then endeavour