登陆注册
15365300000025

第25章 COLERIDGE(4)

Churches,though proved false (as you had imagined),were still true (as you were to imagine):here was an Artist who could burn you up an old Church,root and branch;and then as the Alchemists professed to do with organic substances in general,distil you an "Astral Spirit"from the ashes,which was the very image of the old burnt article,its air-drawn counterpart,--this you still had,or might get,and draw uses from,if you could.Wait till the Book on the Logos were done;--alas,till your own terrene eyes,blind with conceit and the dust of logic,were purged,subtilized and spiritualized into the sharpness of vision requisite for discerning such an "om-m-mject."--The ingenuous young English head,of those days,stood strangely puzzled by such revelations;uncertain whether it were getting inspired,or getting infatuated into flat imbecility;and strange effulgence,of new day or else of deeper meteoric night,colored the horizon of the future for it.

Let me not be unjust to this memorable man.Surely there was here,in his pious,ever-laboring,subtle mind,a precious truth,or prefigurement of truth;and yet a fatal delusion withal.

Prefigurement that,in spite of beaver sciences and temporary spiritual hebetude and cecity,man and his Universe were eternally divine;and that no past nobleness,or revelation of the divine,could or would ever be lost to him.Most true,surely,and worthy of all acceptance.Good also to do what you can with old Churches and practical Symbols of the Noble:nay quit not the burnt ruins of them while you find there is still gold to be dug there.But,on the whole,do not think you can,by logical alchemy,distil astral spirits from them;or if you could,that said astral spirits,or defunct logical phantasms,could serve you in anything.What the light of your mind,which is the direct inspiration of the Almighty,pronounces incredible,--that,in God's name,leave uncredited;at your peril do not try believing that.No subtlest hocus-pocus of "reason"versus "understanding"will avail for that feat;--and it is terribly perilous to try it in these provinces!

The truth is,I now see,Coleridge's talk and speculation was the emblem of himself:in it as in him,a ray of heavenly inspiration struggled,in a tragically ineffectual degree,with the weakness of flesh and blood.He says once,he "had skirted the howling deserts of Infidelity;"this was evident enough:but he had not had the courage,in defiance of pain and terror,to press resolutely across said deserts to the new firm lands of Faith beyond;he preferred to create logical fata-morganas for himself on this hither side,and laboriously solace himself with these.

To the man himself Nature had given,in high measure,the seeds of a noble endowment;and to unfold it had been forbidden him.A subtle lynx-eyed intellect,tremulous pious sensibility to all good and all beautiful;truly a ray of empyrean light;--but embedded in such weak laxity of character,in such indolences and esuriences as had made strange work with it.Once more,the tragic story of a high endowment with an insufficient will.An eye to discern the divineness of the Heaven's spendors and lightnings,the insatiable wish to revel in their godlike radiances and brilliances;but no heart to front the scathing terrors of them,which is the first condition of your conquering an abiding place there.The courage necessary for him,above all things,had been denied this man.His life,with such ray of the empyrean in it,was great and terrible to him;and he had not valiantly grappled with it,he had fled from it;sought refuge in vague daydreams,hollow compromises,in opium,in theosophic metaphysics.Harsh pain,danger,necessity,slavish harnessed toil,were of all things abhorrent to him.And so the empyrean element,lying smothered under the terrene,and yet inextinguishable there,made sad writhings.For pain,danger,difficulty,steady slaving toil,and other highly disagreeable behests of destiny,shall in nowise be shirked by any brightest mortal that will approve himself loyal to his mission in this world;nay precisely the higher he is,the deeper will be the disagreeableness,and the detestability to flesh and blood,of the tasks laid on him;and the heavier too,and more tragic,his penalties if he neglect them.

For the old Eternal Powers do live forever;nor do their laws know any change,however we in our poor wigs and church-tippets may attempt to read their laws.To _steal_into Heaven,--by the modern method,of sticking ostrich-like your head into fallacies on Earth,equally as by the ancient and by all conceivable methods,--is forever forbidden.

High-treason is the name of that attempt;and it continues to be punished as such.Strange enough:here once more was a kind of Heaven-scaling Ixion;and to him,as to the old one,the just gods were very stern!The ever-revolving,never-advancing Wheel (of a kind)was his,through life;and from his Cloud-Juno did not he too procreate strange Centaurs,spectral Puseyisms,monstrous illusory Hybrids,and ecclesiastical Chimeras,--which now roam the earth in a very lamentable manner!

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 最强做词人

    最强做词人

    我的梦想就是有一个温暖的家,安安分分找个工作,做个平凡人!可是我注定不平凡,丫的谁告诉我都他么的穿越来能平凡吗?
  • 重生总裁要逆天

    重生总裁要逆天

    叶澜依上辈子活的悲催,丈夫出轨,闺蜜陷害,失去工作,亲人指责。不堪重负,窝囊的死去。却意外回到九岁。从此掌握了未来的她,下海经商,走在经济前沿,时尚前沿,丑小鸭变成白天鹅。一次舞会,二十岁的她认识了二十二的他......
  • 我叫刘发财

    我叫刘发财

    我叫刘发财,人名狗样,自认是一只忠实的狗,职业流浪,爱好制造荒唐。我的首任主人姓刘,他起这名字是希望我能给他带来财富。有一次,一只黑猫偷吃了我家的肉,主人误会是我干的,不分青红皂白将我一顿暴打,我忍无可忍咬伤了主人,于是我的厄运开始了。
  • 如果你是我的维尼熊

    如果你是我的维尼熊

    她,乖巧懂事。她,嚣张霸道。“喂,从现在开始,你就继续当我的小跟班吧。”他对她命令。“哦。”她唯唯诺诺,心甘情愿被使唤。“快过来,怎么这么慢。”他一脸嫌弃。她一个侧踢,敢这么对本小姐说话,不要命了么。看我接下来要怎么整你。可慢慢的,她却沦陷了…在王子和公主要在一起的时候,总会突发变故…一场车祸…她们只能留下一个。“你希望我留下还是她?”她一脸期待,小心翼翼等他的回答。“我…”他犹豫了,他无法抉择,他知道他无法放弃任何一个她。“算了…别说了。”她闭上眼睛,被推进手术室,不愿他看到她眼底那抹失落……
  • 气炼九方

    气炼九方

    农村少年一步一脚印,走上逆天之路!挡我者!死!一剑在手笑看浮沉。“我说过,他不是我父亲,我不会认,管他是大帝,还是天帝,我只知道他抛弃了我娘就不再是我爹”“奚落啊,我在奈何桥等你,我不愿轮回,此生只想嫁给你”
  • 亲爱的,你说我听

    亲爱的,你说我听

    海滩上坐在两个女孩聊着最近发生的事,两个人总是那么无话不谈。俩人从小就认识都是一个幼儿园的因为南宫子琪家世显赫在哪里都有人认识,但她重来不摆有钱人的架子跟鹿晓妍玩的特别的好。
  • 帝少撩人:闷骚老公太心急

    帝少撩人:闷骚老公太心急

    婚礼上,她豪气放话,“在场的,谁敢娶,我就敢嫁。”秦少璟当众应声,她却欲哭无泪的表示,先生,剧本不是这样走的啊……白天,他是不近女色的冷面阎王,晚上,他是食髓知味的撩妹高手。“买,孩子跟你保你,我妈会游泳,睡觉不打呼噜,眼里只有你一个。现在,能嫁了吗?席凌颜不依不饶,“这就是求婚吗。哼,一点都不浪漫。”秦少璟干脆扑倒,“我能想到最浪漫的事,就是和你用遍所有姿势。”
  • 只想活着

    只想活着

    一切的一切从一场大火开始,命运的车轮转动改变。
  • 浑浊

    浑浊

    本书搬家了,改到《九幽邪皇》中去了,希望大家继续支持.
  • 美女总裁的王者佣兵

    美女总裁的王者佣兵

    华夏国传说有这样一支神秘部队,被称为最强特种部队,他的名字叫做锋刃特战部队。传说每一个国家交代的任务,都会顺利完成,就这样,锋刃特战部队成为了一个神一样的存在。好景不长,在一次剿杀国际最大杀手组织暗影佣兵集团的时候,意外发生了,锋刃特战队队长和副队长在任务中深入敌后作战,不幸身亡。……………………几年后!国际最大杀手组织暗影佣兵集团突然出现了一个强大的对手,被称为裁决军团。传说其领导者被称为鬼神。像鬼一样来无影去无踪。然而我们的主角萧梓宇在老头子的提示下,找到了自己小时候的娃娃亲总裁。林晨曦,美女校花,性感警花,泼辣搏击女。看主角如何一一收服。