Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1867-05-24
VOLUME 40; NO. 2f.
sAMUEL rAYLoR coLERlpeE.

But keen as was Coleridges interest in
political and moral subjects, and in whatever
affects the well being Of man, the full bent
Of his soul, and its deepest meditations
were given to the truths of the Christian
revelation. From none Of his works are
these thoughts absent; but the fullest expo.
sltion OF bis religious views is TO be found In
the dds of Retjectioa, his maturest work,
and in the third and fourth volumes Of the
Ljtaoiy Remains. Before, however, ad-
verting 10 these opinions, it may be well to
remember, that, much as C0leridge thought
and reasoned on religion, it was his firm
conviction, founded on experience, that the
way to an assured faith that faith which
gives lte and peace, is not to be won by
dlnt OF argument. Evidences of Christi
anity! | am weary Of the word. Make a
man feel the rant Of 1t; rouse him, if YOU
can to the self knowledge of the need Of it.,
and you may safely trust it to its own evil
denee, remembering always the express dec
laTatlon Of Christ himselE No man cometh
to me, unless the Father leadeth him. I"
30 Il was with himself Much as he phil
osophized, philosophy was not his souls
haven; not thence did his help come. 1t
may have cleared away outlying hindrances.
but it was not this that led him I'D to the
strong hold of hope Through the wounds
made IN his own spirit, through the broken
ness OF a heart humbled and made contrite
by the experience of his own sin and utter
helplessness, entered in the faith which
gave rest, the peace which "settles where
the intellect Is meek. Once his soul had
reached the citadel, his eYer-busy eye and
penetrating spirit surveyed the nature of
the bul-warks, and examined the founda-
tions, as few before had done. And the
world has the benefit, whatever It may be,
OF these surveys. But though C0leridge was
a religious philosopher, let it not be supposed
that he put more store by the philosophy
than the religion. He knew well, and often
insisted that religion is life rather than
science, and that there is a danger, peculiar
to the intellectual man, Of turning into
speculation what was given to I've By. He
knew that the intellect, busy with ideas
about God, may not only fail to bring a man
nearer the divine life but may actually tend
to withdraw him from it. For the intellect
takes in but the phantom Of the truth, and
leaves the total impression, the full power
OF 1t, unappropriated. And hence it comes
that those truths which, if felt by the un-
learned at all, 60 straight to the heart and
are taken in by the whole man, are apt, In
the case Of the philosopher and the theo-
logIan, TO stop at the outside region Of the
understanding. and never to get further.
This is q danger peculiar to the learned or
to those who think themselves such. The
trained intellect Is apt to eat out the child s
heart, and yet the except We become as lit
tie children stands unrepealed Coleridge
knew this well. In his earliest interview
with DcQuincey, he said that prayer with
the whole soul was the highest energy Of
which the human heart was capable and
that the great mass of worldly men, and of
learned men, were absolutely incapable of
prayer.
And only two years before his death. after
q retrospect Of his own life, to his nephew,
who sat by his bedside one afternoon he
said
/ have no difficulty in forgiveness.
Neither do find or reckon most the sol
emn faith in God as real object the most
ardu0us act Of reason and will O no it
Is to pray, 10 pray as God would have US;
this Is what at times makes me turn cold to
my s0ul Believe me, to pray with all
your heart and strength, with the reason
and the will, to believe vividly that God
will listen to your voice through Christ and
verify do the thing He peaseth thereupon
this is the last, the greatest achieve
ment OF a Christian 5 warfare On earth.
And then BE burstinto tears and begged me
TO pray for him