The Life of Samuel Taylor Coleridge: 1838Gillman, James
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The Life of Samuel Taylor Coleridge: 1838
Gillman, James
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 1772-1834; Critics -- Great Britain -- Biography; Poets, English -- 19th century -- Biography
I recollect when I stood on the summit of Etna, and darted my gaze
down the crater; the immediate vicinity was discernible, till, lower
down, obscurity gradually terminated in total darkness. Such figures
exemplify many truths revealed in the Bible. We pursue them, until,
from the imperfection of our faculties, we are lost in impenetrable
night. All truths, however, that are essential to faith, 'honestly'
interpreted; all that are important to human conduct, under every
diversity of circumstance, are manifest as a blazing star. The
promises also of felicity to the righteous, in the future world,
though the precise nature of that felicity may not be defined, are
illustrated by every image that can swell the imagination: while the
misery of the 'lost', in its unutterable intensity, though the
language that describes it is all necessarily figurative, is there
exhibited as resulting chiefly, if not wholly, from the withdrawment
of the 'light of God's countenance', and a banishment from his
'presence!'--best comprehended in this world, by reflecting on the
desolations which would instantly follow the loss of the sun's
vivifying and universally diffused 'warmth'.
You, or rather 'all', should remember, that some truths, from their
nature, surpass the scope of man's limited powers, and stand as the
criteria of 'faith', determining, by their rejection, or admission,
who among the sons of men can confide in the veracity of heaven. Those
more ethereal truths, of which the Trinity is conspicuously the chief,
without being circumstantially explained, may be faintly illustrated
by material objects.--The eye of man cannot discern the satellites of
Jupiter, nor become sensible of the multitudinous stars, the rays of
which have never reached our planet, and, consequently, garnish not
the canopy of night; yet, are they the less 'real', because their
existence lies beyond man's unassisted gaze? The tube of the
philosopher, and the 'celestial telescope',--the unclouded visions of
heaven, will confirm the one class of truths, and irradiate the other.
The 'Trinity' is a subject on which analogical reasoning may
advantageously be admitted, as furnishing, at least, a glimpse of
light, and with this, for the present, we must be satisfied. Infinite
Wisdom deemed clearer manifestations inexpedient; and is man to
dictate to his Maker? I may further remark, that where we cannot
behold a desirable object distinctly, we must take the best view we
can; and I think you, and every candid and inquiring mind, may derive
assistance from such reflections as the following.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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