shield of truth and honour are to be made, who will not withdraw all confidence from the writer, although 'Tis true, that passionate for ancient truths a few there are, who will still less be indisposed to follow him in his milder mood, whenever their Friend, Piercing the long-neglected holy cave, I have hinted, above, at the necessity of a glossary, and I will conclude these supplementary remarks with a nomenclature of the principal terms which occur in the elements of speculative philosophy, in their old and rightful sense, according to my belief; at all events the sense in which I have myself employed them. The most general term (genus summum) belonging to the speculative intellect, as distinguished from acts of the will, is Representation, or (still better) Presentation. A conscious Presentation, if it refers exclusively to the subject, as a modification of his own state of being, is= Sensation. = The same if it refers to an Object, is Perception. tuition. * Poet. Works, I. p. 200. Ed. + Ib. Ed. The same, mediate, and by means of a character or mark common to several things, is a Conception. A Conception, extrinsic and sensuous, is a Fact, or a Cognition. The same, purely mental and abstracted from the forms of the understanding itself a Notion. A notion may be realized, and becomes cognition; but that which is neither a sensation or a perception, that which is neither individual (that is, a sensible intuition) nor general (that is, a conception) which neither refers to outward facts, nor yet is abstracted from the forms of perception contained in the understanding; but which is an educt of the imagination actuated by the pure reason, to which there neither is nor can be an adequate correspondent in the world of the senses;—this and this alone is an Idea. Whether ideas are regulative only, according to Aristotle and Kant; or likewise constitutive, and one with the power and life of nature, according to Plato, and Plotinus (ἐν λόγῳ ζωὴ ἦν, καὶ ἡ ζωὴ ἦν τὸ φῶς τῶν ἀνθρώπων) is the highest problem of philosophy, and not part of its nomenclature.* * See Table Talk, p. 95, 2d edit. Ed. A LAY SERMON, ADDRESSED TO THE HIGHER AND MIDDLE CLASSES, ON THE EXISTING DISTRESSES AND DISCONTENTS. 1817. BY SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE. Second Edition: WITH THE AUTHOR'S LAST CORRECTIONS AND NOTES, BY HENRY NELSON COLERIDGE, ESQ. M.A. If ye do not hope, ye will not find: for in despairing ye block up the mine at its mouth, ye extinguish the torch, even when ye are already in the shaft. GOD and the world we worship still together, The imperfect will brings forth but barren flowers! Strangers to God, fools in humanity : Too good for great things and too great for good, 305 INTRODUCTION. FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN! You I mean, who fill the higher and middle stations of society! The comforts, perchance the splendors, that surround you, designate your rank, but cannot constitute your moral and personal fitness for it. Be it enough for others to know that you are its legal,-but by what mark shall you stand accredited to your own consciences, as its worthy,-possessors? Not by common sense or common honesty; for these are equally demanded of all classes, and therefore mere negative qualifications in your rank of life, or characteristic only by the aggravated ignominy consequent on their absence. Not by genius or splendid talent; for these, as being gifts of nature, are objects of moral interest for those alone, to whom they have been allotted. Nor yet by eminence in learning; for this supposes such a devotion of time and thought, as would in many cases be incompatible with the claims of active life. Erudition is, doubtless, an ornament that especially beseems a high station: but it is professional rank only that renders its attainment a duty. The mark in question must be so far common, that we may be entitled to look for it in you from the mere circumstance of your situation, and so far |