Henry Charles Beeching, ed. (1859–1919). Lyra Sacra: A Book of Religious Verse. 1903.

By Hartley Coleridge (1796–1849)

The Just shall live by Faith


“THE JUST 1 shall live by faith,”—and why? That faith
By which they live is all that makes them just,
The sole antagonist to the inborn lust
And malice that subjects them to the death
Which Adam earn’d, Cain, Abel suffered, Seth	5
Bequeath’d to all his progeny; who must
Suffer the primal doom of dust to dust,
And for uncertain respite hold their breath.
Think not the faith by which the just shall live
Is a dead creed, a map correct of heaven,	10
Far less a feeling fond and fugitive,
A thoughtless gift, withdrawn as soon as given.
It is an affirmation and an act
That bids eternal truth be present fact.

Note 1. Hartley Coleridge, eldest son of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who, with his father’s weakness of will inherited also some of his genius, lived most of his life in the Lake Country. Wordsworth’s ode to him, at six years old, besides being a singularly beautiful poem, showed great insight into his character. His most successful poetical performances are the sonnets, which he wrote at a jet, without labour or polishing. [back]

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