Other related topics at:
Religion and Morality
Virtue and Vice
708c. Faith; Prayer
"Happy are they ... who shall learn ... not to despair, but shall
remember, that though the day is past, and their strength is
wasted, there yet 
remains
one effort to be made; that
reformation is never hopeless, nor sincere endeavours ever
unassisted; that the wanderer may at length return after all his
errours, and that he who implores strength and courage from above
shall find danger and difficulty give way before him."
Johnson: Rambler #65 (October 30, 1750) [words said by a
fictional hermit]
Link
1,302. Faith; Genius;
Self-Destruction
"Keep always in your mind, that, with due submission to
Providence, a man of genius has been seldom ruined but by
himself."
Johnson: Letter to Joseph Baretti
Link
1,422. Faith
"Nothing can afford any rational tranquillity, but the conviction
that, however we amuse ourselves with unideal sounds, nothing in
reality is governed by chance, but that the universe is under the
perpetual superintendence of him who created it; that our being
is in the hands of omnipotent goodness, by whom what appears
casual to us is directed for ends ultimately kind and merciful;
and that nothing can finally hurt him who debars not himself
from the divine favour."
Johnson: Rambler #184 (December 21, 1751)
Link
1,429. Faith; Perseverance; Pride;
Virtue
The utmost excellence at which humanity can arrive is a constant
and determinate pursuit of virtue, without regard to present
dangers or advantages; a continual reference of every action to
the divine will; an habitual appeal to everlasting justice; and
an unvaried elevation of the intellectual eye to the reward which
perseverance only can obtain. But that pride which many, who
presume to boast of generous sentiments, allow to regulate their
measures has nothing nobler in view than the approbation of men,
of beings whose superiority we are under no obligation to
acknowledge, and who, when we have courted them with the utmost
assiduity, can confer no valuable or permanent reward.
Johnson: Rambler #185 (December 24, 1751)
Link
1,585. Faith; Fallibility; Life
"Life is not the object of science: we see a little, very little;
and what is beyond we can only conjecture. If we enquire of
those who have gone before us, we receive small satisfaction;
some have travelled life without observation, and some willingly
mislead us. The only thought, therefore, on which we can repose
with comfort, is that which presents to us the care of
Providence, whose eye takes in the whole of things, and under
whose direction all involuntary errours will terminate in
happiness."
Johnson: Adventurer #107 (November 13, 1753)
Link
1,699. Faith
Writing on the death of a parent:
"These are the great occasions which force the mind to take
refuge in religion: when we have no help in ourselves, what can
remain but that we look up to a higher and a greater Power? and
to what hope may we not raise our eyes and hearts, when we
consider that the greatest POWER is the BEST?"
Johnson: Idler #41 (January 27, 1759)
Link
1,700. After-Life; Faith;
Mourning
Writing on the death of a parent:
"Surely there is no man who, thus afflicted, does not seek
succour in the gospel, which has brought life and
immortality to light. The precepts of Epicurus, who teaches
us to endure what the laws of the universe make necessary,
may silence but not content us. The dictates of Zeno, who
commands us to look with indifference on external things, may
dispose us to look with indifference on external things, may
dispose us to conceal our sorrow, but cannot assuage it. Real
alleviation of the loss of friends, and rational tranquillity in
the prospect of our own dissolution, can be received only by the
promises of Him in whose hands are life and death, and from the
assurance of another and better state, in which all tears will be
wiped from the eyes, and the whole soul shall be filled with joy.
Philosophy may infuse stubbornness, but Religion only can give
patience."
Johnson: Idler #41 (January 27, 1759)
Link
