I
shall never be a Papist, unless on the near approach of death, of which
I have a very great terrour. I wonder that women are not all Papists.'
BOSWELL. 'They are not more afraid of death than men are.' JOHNSON.
'Because they are less wicked.' DR. ADAMS. 'They are more pious.'
JOHNSON. 'No, hang 'em, they are not more pious. A wicked fellow is the
most pious when he takes to it. He'll beat you all at piety.'
He argued in defence of some of the peculiar tenets of the Church of
Rome. As to the giving the bread only to the laity, he said, 'They may
think, that in what is merely ritual, deviations from the primitive mode
may be admitted on the ground of convenience, and I think they are as
well warranted to make this alteration, as we are to substitute
sprinkling in the room of the ancient baptism.' As to the invocation of
saints[892], he said, 'Though I do not think it authorised, it appears
to me, that "the communion of saints" in the Creed means the communion
with the saints in Heaven, as connected with "The holy Catholick
Church[893]."' He admitted the influence of evil spirits[894] upon our
minds, and said, 'Nobody who believes the New Testament can deny it.
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