Human church-authorities, it has been said, can judge only of the credibility of your profession of faith. But there is a secret matter between God and your own soul, which must now engage your most solicitous attention. Every thing in this ordinance implies the presence of gracious affection. Even if you should escape the higher condemnation of the sacrilegious, you cannot partake of spiritual food, in an unregenerate state. Hence the manifest importance of an immediate and thorough inquiry into your condition, as a condemned or a justified soul. “Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of this bread and drink of this cup” [1 Cor. 11:28].

JAMES W. ALEXANDER, PLAIN WORDS TO A YOUNG COMMUNICANT, 28-29.