But another argument on this subject overpowers me with its weight; and I trust, my dear friend, it will produce a similar effect on you. I know you would be greatly shocked, as I should be, to be told, that we were unfit to approach our Maker, in the ordinary devotions of the closet, or to join our fellow Christians in the daily service of the church. And yet it is your duty and mine to consider (what is most certainly true), that _every act of religion_, whether public or private, _requires the same dispositions of mind_, namely, repentance of past sins, and purposes of future amendment, as the celebration of the Sacrament. No man is fit to approach the throne of God in that divine form of prayer which Christ himself hath taught us, or in any other, if he is then living in _habitual_ violation of his laws; for that is to pray with his lips, while his heart is far from God; and this we know is declared to be mockery in his sight. _Praying unworthily_, that is, without reverence and godly fear, and whilst we live in the love and _habitual_ indulgence of any known and deliberate sin, will be equally offensive to the eye of spotless Purity, as unworthily communicating. If this reflection were duly attended to, men would discover, that the common excuses alleged for non-attendance at the altar, if pursued through all their consequences, would necessarily lead to the casting off every branch of social and private worship. {15} Do not imagine that I seek to depreciate this sacred ordinance, or to lessen the reverence due to it; for I readily admit, that whoever is _determined to indulge in the practice of known sins_, _and to persevere in a wicked course of life_, ought not to come to the table of the Lord: but I most earnestly entreat you (if _you are_ such a one, as I trust you are not) to consider the danger of your state: to such a one I say, If you are not fit to receive the Sacrament, you are not fit to pray; and, oh horrible thought! you are not fit to die. So far am I from depreciating this blessed institution, that I wish it to be universally regarded, and resorted to by all Christians, as the best means of grace, and a pledge to assure us of God’s favour to his people: but I am also desirous to convince you, that reverence and respect are equally required, and a general good life and virtuous conduct are no less essential to the right performance of those ordinary duties of prayer and praise, which by too many are performed in compliance with custom, and regarded as mere matters of course; whereas there is not one of these duties, the _due performance_ of which (I repeat this idea for its importance) does not require the _same sorrow_ for past sins, the _same steadfast purposes of amendment_, the _same faith_ in Christ, and the _same charity_ to men, as communicating at the holy table. No man is, or can be, accepted by God, in the performance of any of these duties, who is not fit to come to the other. No man, _who has a just