Pilgrim Library Christian Classics
Aids to Reflection

Aids to Reflection

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) was an English poet, critic, and philosopher, a founder of the Romantic movement and one of the Lake Poets. Alongside poems such as The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan, he wrote serious theological prose, notably Biographia Literaria (1817). Aids to Reflection (1825) gathers his meditations on Christian faith, reason, and spiritual life and influenced generations of Anglican thinkers.

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First published
1825
Category
Devotional
Length
114k words · about 8 hours
Chapters
112

About this book

Samuel Taylor Coleridge's reflections on faith and the spiritual life, published in 1825. Written largely as aphorisms with commentary, the book distinguishes mere understanding from living reason, and urges readers toward a faith that engages both mind and conscience. It influenced a generation of English-speaking Christians who sought depth of thought joined with earnest piety.

Contents

  1. PRELIMINARY ESSAY.
  2. THE AUTHORS ADDRESS
  3. THE AUTHORS PREFACE. 🔒
  4. AIDS TO REFLECTION. 🔒
  5. REFLECTIONS. 🔒
  6. PRUDENTIAL APHORISMS. 🔒
  7. APHORISM IV. 🔒
  8. APHORISM V. 🔒
  9. APHORISM VI. 🔒
  10. APHORISM VII. 🔒
  11. APHORISM VIII. 🔒
  12. APHORISM IX. 🔒
  13. APHORISM X. 🔒
  14. APHORISM XII. 🔒
  15. APHORISM XIII. 🔒
  16. INCONSISTENCY. 🔒
  17. THE ORDINARY MOTIVE TO INCONSISTENCY. 🔒
  18. SUPERFICIAL RECONCILIATIONS, AND SELF-DECEIT IN FORGIVING. 🔒
  19. OF THE WORTH AND THE DUTIES OF THE PREACHER. 🔒
  20. APHORISM XX. 🔒
  21. COMMENT. 🔒
  22. APHORISM XXI. 🔒
  23. Knowledge not the ultimate end of religious pursuits. 🔒
  24. THE SUM OF CHURCH HISTORY. 🔒
  25. WORTHY TO BE FRAMED AND HUNG UP IN THE LIBRARY OF EVERY THEOLOGICAL STUDENT. 🔒
  26. THE ABSENCE OF DISPUTES, AND A GENERAL AVERSION TO RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSIES, NO PROOF OF TRUE UNANIMITY. 🔒
  27. APHORISM XXVII. 🔒
  28. APHORISM XXVIII. 🔒
  29. APHORISM XXIX. 🔒
  30. APHORISM XXX. 🔒
  31. APHORISM XXXI. 🔒
  32. APHORISM XXXII. 🔒
  33. APHORISM XXXIII. 🔒
  34. APHORISM XXXIV. 🔒
  35. APHORISM XXXV. 🔒
  36. ASPHORISM XXXVI. 🔒
  37. COMMENT. 🔒
  38. APHORISM XXXVII. 🔒
  39. APHORISM XXXVIII. 🔒
  40. APHORISM XXXIX. 🔒
  41. APHORISM XL. 🔒
  42. APHORISM XLI. 🔒
  43. APHORISM XLII. 🔒
  44. APHORISM XLIII. 🔒
  45. APHORISM XLIV. 🔒
  46. APHORISM XLV. 🔒
  47. APHORISM XLVI. 🔒
  48. APHORISM XLVII. 🔒
  49. APHORISM XLVIII. 🔒
  50. APHORISM XLIX. 🔒
  51. APHORISM L. 🔒
  52. COMMENT. 🔒
  53. ELEMENTS OF RELIGIOUS PHILOSOPHY, 🔒
  54. APHORISMS 🔒
  55. APHORISM I. 🔒
  56. Aphorism II. 🔒
  57. APHORISM III. 🔒
  58. APHORISM IV. 🔒
  59. APHORISM V. 🔒
  60. APHORISM VI. 🔒
  61. COMMENT. 🔒
  62. APHORISMS 🔒
  63. APHORISM I. 🔒
  64. COMMENT. 🔒
  65. APHORISM II. 🔒
  66. COMMENT. 🔒
  67. APHORISM III. 🔒
  68. COMMENT. 🔒
  69. APHORISM IV. 🔒
  70. APHORISM V. 🔒
  71. COMMENT. 🔒
  72. Aphorism VI. 🔒
  73. APHORISM VII. 🔒
  74. COMMENT. 🔒
  75. APHORISM VIII. 🔒
  76. COMMENT. 🔒
  77. SCHEME OF THE ARGUMENT. 🔒
  78. UNDERSTANDING. 🔒
  79. REASON. 🔒
  80. SEQUELAE: OR THOUGHTS SUGGESTED BY THE PRECEDING APHORISM. 🔒
  81. COMMENT. 🔒
  82. ON INSTINCT IN CONNEXION WITH THE UNDERSTANDING. 🔒
  83. REFLECTIONS INTRODUCTORY TO APHORISM X. 🔒
  84. ON ORIGINAL SIN. 🔒
  85. COMMENT. 🔒
  86. APHORISM XI. 🔒
  87. PALEY NOT A MORALIST. 🔒
  88. APHORISM XIII. 🔒
  89. APHORISM XIV. 🔒
  90. APHORISM XV. 🔒
  91. COMMENT. 🔒
  92. APHORISM XVI. 🔒
  93. APHORISM XVII. 🔒
  94. ON THE THREE PRECEDING APHORISMS 🔒
  95. APHORISM XVIII. 🔒
  96. APHORISM XIX. 🔒
  97. COMMENT. 🔒
  98. *Answers.* 🔒
  99. SCHOLIUM TO ANSWER II. 🔒
  100. SCHOLIUM TO ANSWER III. 🔒
  101. APHORISM XX. 🔒
  102. APHORISM XXI. 🔒
  103. APHORISM XXII. 🔒
  104. APHORISM XXIII. 🔒
  105. APHORISM XXIII. 🔒
  106. COMMENT. 🔒
  107. ON BAPTISM. 🔒
  108. COMMENT, 🔒
  109. Marginal note written (in 1816) in a copy of Walls Work. 🔒
  110. CONCLUSION. 🔒
  111. MYSTICS AND MYSTICISM. 🔒
  112. APPENDIX. 🔒

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