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So does Coleridge's Philosophy lead us directly down to his 

 Theology. The one with him was indeed almost identical with the 

 other. He began his thoughtful life, as we saw, by being a Unitarian, 

 and a great admirer of Spinoza. His Religious Musings are a fair 

 specimen of his religious ideas at the time of his leaving Cambridge ; 

 and these are tinctured with Spinozism to a considerable extent. After- 

 wards he gives up Unitarianism, and accepts the doctrine of the Trinity. 

 He is careful to tell us, that he does not think he could have arrived at 

 that doctrine from the reasoning process alone ; but that having been 

 revealed, he sees at once its truth in its coincidence with philosophy. 

 There is Absolute Being when, as we saw, the Subject and Object 

 become identified. The Infinite, which manifests itself in the Finite, in 

 the Creature. But Ideas are but emanations from the Infinite. Know- 

 ledge and Being are one — i.e. — the Father and the Logos of the 

 Christian Trinity are absolutely one. But there is also a result of this 

 combination, that is — energy, that is — active Love. From Being and 

 Knowledge proceed Energy — i.e. — the Holy Spirit proceeds from Father 

 and Son. Again — Ideas and Conceptions are distinct ; ideas are flashes 

 from the Universal Light ; conceptions are the abstract images and defi- 

 nitions of things drawn by each man's particular understanding. By the 

 pure reason, man holds communion with God ; it is not only closely 

 allied to Imagination — the maker of poets and prophets — but it is a 

 spiritual and intuitive faculty. By virtue of it (the Light which lighteth 

 every man), man \i2& faith. The individual recognizes as true, by this 

 precious gift, the revelations of the Logos. So again. Inspiration or 

 Revelation, is that which brings home the voice of the Infinite, of God, 

 to the heart. The statements in the Bible, which are true, commend 

 themselves at once to the Intuitive Reason. This is the "verifying 

 faculty," by which our Faith or Reason is able at once to distinguish 

 between true and false, between the gold and the dross. Or, once 

 more — The voice of the divine Reason in regard, not to faith, but to 

 duty or conduct, is ever heard in the conscience ; hence, whatever truth 

 man has to tell, is the same in all times. Poets and philosophers, by 

 listening to and interpreting the Imagination and the Reason, have the 



