127:--
'This is another thing which I am changed in; that whereas in my
younger days I was never tempted to doubt of the Truth of Scripture
or Christianity, but all my Doubts and Fears were exercised at home,
about my own Sincerity and Interest in Christ--since then my sorest
assaults have been on the other side, and such they were, that had I
been void of internal Experience, and the adhesion of Love, and the
special help of God, and had not discerned more Reason for my Religion
than I did when I was younger, I had certainly apostatized to Infidelity,'
&c.
Johnson, the day after he recorded his 'doubt,' wrote that he was
'troubled with Baxter's _scruple_' (_ante_, ii. 477). The 'scruple'
was, perhaps, the same as the 'doubt.' In his _Dictionary_ he defines
_scruple_ as _doubt; difficulty of determination; perplexity; generally
about minute things_.
_Oxford in 1782_.
(Vol. iii, p. 13, n. 3.)
The Rev. C. P. Moritz (_ante_, p. liv) gives a curious account of
his visit to Oxford. On his way from Dorchester on the evening of
a Sunday in June, he had been overtaken by the Rev. Mr. Maud, who seems
to have been a Fellow and Tutor of Corpus College[3], and who was
returning from doing duty in his curacy. It was late when they arrived
in the town. Moritz, who, as I have said, more than once had found
great difficulty in getting a bed, had made up his mind to pass the
summer night on a stonebench in the High Street.
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