The Literary Remains | Page 3

only say, in addition to a reference to the
general authority given by the Author, that to the best of his knowledge
and judgment he has not permitted any thing to appear before the
public which Mr. Coleridge saw reason to retract; and further express
his hope and belief that, with such allowance for defects inherent in the
nature of the work as may rightfully be expected from every really
liberal mind, nothing contained in the following pages can fairly be a
ground of offence to any one.
It only remains to be added that the materials used in the compilation of
this Volume were for the greatest part communicated by Mr. Gillman;
and that the rest were furnished by Mr. Wordsworth, the Rev. Derwent
Coleridge, the Rev. Edward Coleridge, and the Editor.
Lincoln's Inn, March 26, 1838

[Footnote 1: See 'Table Talk', p. 178, 2nd edit.]

FORMULA FIDEI DE SANCTISSIMA TRINITATE.
1830.
THE IDENTITY.

The absolute subjectivity, whose only attribute is the Good; whose only
definition is--that which is essentially causative of all possible true
being; the ground; the absolute will; the adorable [Greek: pr_ópr_oton],
which, whatever is assumed as the first, must be presumed as its
antecedent; [Greek: theòs], without an article, and yet not as an
adjective. See John i. 18. [Greek: theòn oudeìs he_órake p_ópote] as
differenced from ib. 1, [Greek: kai theòs aen o lógos]
But that which is essentially causative of all being must be causative of
its own,--'causa sui', [Greek: autopát_or]. Thence
THE IPSEITY.
The eternally self-affirmant self-affirmed; the "I Am in that I Am," or
the "I shall be that I will to be;" the Father; the relatively subjective,
whose attribute is, the Holy One; whose definition is, the essential
finific in the form of the infinite; 'dat sibi fines'.
But the absolute will, the absolute good, in the eternal act of
self-affirmation, the Good as the Holy One, co-eternally begets
THE ALTERITY.
The supreme being; [Greek: ho ont'os 'on]; the supreme reason; the
Jehovah; the Son; the Word; whose attribute is the True (the truth, the
light, the 'fiat'); and whose definition is, the 'pleroma' of being, whose
essential poles are unity and distinctity; or the essential infinite in the
form of the finite;--lastly, the relatively objective, 'deitas objectiva' in
relation to the I Am as the 'deitas subjectiva'; the divine objectivity.
N.B. The distinctities in the 'pleroma' are the eternal ideas, the
subsistential truths; each considered in itself, an infinite in the form of
the finite; but all considered as one with the unity, the eternal Son, they
are the energies of the finific; [Greek: pánta di' autou egéneto--kaì ek
tou plaer'ómatos autou haemeis pántes elábomen.] John i. 3 and 16.
But with the relatively subjective and the relatively objective, the great
idea needs only for its completion a co-eternal which is both, that is,

relatively objective to the subjective, relatively subjective to the
objective. Hence
THE COMMUNITY.
The eternal life, which is love; the Spirit; relatively to the Father, the
Spirit of Holiness, the Holy Spirit; relatively to the Son, the Spirit of
truth, whose attribute is Wisdom; 'sancta sophia'; the Good in the
reality of the True, in the form of actual Life. Holy! Holy! Holy!
[Greek: hilásthaetí moi].

A NIGHTLY PRAYER.
1831.
Almighty God, by thy eternal Word my Creator, Redeemer and
Preserver! who hast in thy free communicative goodness glorified me
with the capability of knowing thee, the one only absolute Good, the
eternal I Am, as the author of my being, and of desiring and seeking
thee as its ultimate end;--who, when I fell from thee into the mystery of
the false and evil will, didst not abandon me, poor self-lost creature, but
in thy condescending mercy didst provide an access and a return to
thyself, even to thee the Holy One, in thine only begotten Son, the way
and the truth from everlasting, and who took on himself humanity, yea,
became flesh, even the man Christ Jesus, that for man he might be the
life and the resurrection!--O Giver of all good gifts, who art thyself the
one only absolute Good, from whom I have received whatever good I
have, whatever capability of good there is in me, and from thee good
alone,--from myself and my own corrupted will all evil and the
consequents of evil,--with inward prostration of will, mind, and
affections I adore thy infinite majesty; I aspire to love thy transcendant
goodness!--In a deep sense of my unworthiness, and my unfitness to
present myself before thee, of eyes too pure to behold iniquity, and
whose light, the beatitude of spirits conformed to thy will, is a
consuming fire to all vanity and corruption;--but in the name of the
Lord Jesus, of the dear Son of thy love, in whose perfect