"' BOSWELL. 'But
what do you say, Sir, to the ancient and continued tradition of the
church upon this point?' JOHNSON. 'Tradition, Sir, has no place, where
the Scriptures are plain; and tradition cannot persuade a man into a
belief of transubstantiation. Able men, indeed, have _said_ they
believed it.'
This is an awful subject. I did not then press Dr. Johnson upon it: nor
shall I now enter upon a disquisition concerning the import of those
words uttered by our Saviour[216], which had such an effect upon many of
his disciples, that they 'went back, and walked no more with him.' The
Catechism and solemn office for Communion, in the Church of England,
maintain a mysterious belief in more than a mere commemoration of the
death of Christ, by partaking of the elements of bread and wine.
Dr. Johnson put me in mind, that, at St. Andrews, I had defended my
profession very well, when the question had again been started, Whether
a lawyer might honestly engage with the first side that offers him a
fee. 'Sir, (said I,) it was with your arguments against Sir William
Forbes[217]: but it was much that I could wield the arms of Goliah.'
He said, our judges had not gone deep in the question concerning
literary property. I mentioned Lord Monboddo's opinion, that if a man
could get a work by heart, he might print it, as by such an act the mind
is exercised.
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