"A world where much is to be done, and little is to be known:" do not sink
yourselves in boundless bottomless abysses of Doubt, of wretched
god-forgetting Unbelief;--you were miserable then, powerless, mad: how
could you _do_ or work at all? Such Gospel Johnson preached and
taught;--coupled, theoretically and practically, with this other great
Gospel, "Clear your mind of Cant!" Have no trade with Cant: stand on the
cold mud in the frosty weather, but let it be in your own _real_ torn
shoes: "that will be better for you," as Mahomet says! I call this, I
call these two things _joined together_, a great Gospel, the greatest
perhaps that was possible at that time.
Johnson's Writings, which once had such currency and celebrity, are now as
it were disowned by the young generation. It is not wonderful; Johnson's
opinions are fast becoming obsolete: but his style of thinking and of
living, we may hope, will never become obsolete. I find in Johnson's Books
the indisputablest traces of a great intellect and great heart;--ever
welcome, under what obstructions and perversions soever.
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