Mr.Stephen has pitched on a very happy illustration of this.
A distinguished clergyman of the English Church, he reminds us, has preached and published a set of sermons,[38] in which he denies emphatically any belief in eternal punishment, although admitting at the same time that the opinion of the Christian world is against him.

These sermons gave rise to a discussion in one of the leading monthly reviews, to which Protestant divines of all shades of opinion contributed their various arguments.

'_It is barely possible_,' says Mr.Stephen, '_with the best intentions, to take such a discussion seriously.

Boswell tells us how a lady interrogated Dr.Johnson as to the nature of the spiritual body.

She seemed desirous, he adds, of "knowing more; but he left the subject in obscurity." We smile at Boswell's evident impression that Johnson could, if he had chosen, have dispelled the darkness.