Thomas Traherne – The son of a shoemaker, Traherne was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford, ordained in 1660, and presented in 1661 to the living of Credenhill, which he held until 1674. From 1669 to 1674 Traherne lived in London and Teddington, serving as chaplain to Sir Orlando Bridgeman, lord keeper from 1667 to 1672. That year he became minister of Teddington Church, where he was buried when he died two years later.
The only work by Traherne published during his lifetime was Roman Forgeries (1673), an anti-Catholic polemic. His Christian Ethicks appeared posthumously in 1675, and his Thanksgivings in rhythmical prose were published anonymously as A Serious and Patheticall Contemplation of the Mercies of God in 1699. The greater part of Traherne’s poetry and his prose meditations remained unknown until their recovery in modern times. The chance discovery in 1896 in a London street bookstall of the manuscripts of Traherne’s Poetical Works (published 1903) and his Centuries of Meditations (published 1908) created a literary sensation. The manuscript of Poems of Felicity was subsequently found in the British Museum and published in 1910. Other substantial manuscripts were discovered in the 1960s and in 1997.
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The Works of Thomas Traherne
Vol V
General Preface
Thomas Traherne (1637-1674) left a substantial body of work, primarily in manuscript form, when he died before the age of forty. He published only one work during his lifetime, Roman Forgeries (1673), and prepared for the press Christian Ethicks, which appeared posthumously in 1675. He remained for the most part unknown until Bertram Dobell published his poems and Centuries of Meditations in the early twentieth century. The story of the discovery of Traherne’s manuscripts is well known, beginning in 1896/97 when William Brooke chanced upon a group of manuscripts of Traherne’s works in both prose and poetry. Included among them were the Centuries and what is now known as the Dobell Folio, which contains Traherne’s autograph poems and the Commonplace Book.[1] In 1910 H. I. Bell found and published Philip Traherne’s hand-written edition of Thomas’s poems, Poems of Felicity.[2] In 1964 James Osborn unexpectedly found the manuscript containing the Select Meditations.[3] This was followed in 1981 by the identification of Traherne’s Commentaries of Heaven by Elliot Rose.[4] It was not until 1996-7 that other Traherne manuscripts were discovered. ‘The Ceremonial Law’, a poem of 1,800 lines, was identified as Traherne’s by Laetitia Yeandle with the assistance of Julia Smith.[5] In the spring of 1997, Jeremy Maule found yet another Traherne manuscript,[6] consisting of four more works plus a fragment.
There are no doubt other missing notebooks and perhaps poems and treatises, as references in some of his works suggest.
There has been no attempt to gather all Traherne’s extant works into a uniform, printed edition, with the purpose of giving a sense of the manuscript or printed originals. The primary purpose of this edition, therefore, is to present a definitive printed text of all of Traherne’s extant works, both published and unpublished. In his 1903 introduction to Traherne’s poems, Dobell wrote that ‘there is a picturesqueness, a beauty, and a life about the manuscripts which is lost in the cold regularity of type’,[7] to which Peter Beal has added that Traherne’s texts ‘should be edited according to manuscript, rather than according to individual “work” as defined by modern editors’, since ‘the MS is “the work”’.[8] This edition will present Traherne’s texts by manuscript insofar as possible, giving due attention to the physical aspects and integrity of the manuscripts themselves, hoping to bring the reader as close as possible in a printed format to the manuscript originals and to the distinctive quality of Traherne’s writings. His printed works will be edited with the same intention.
The text of Traherne’s works will be printed in seven volumes, with an eighth volume of commentary, which will include a brief biography of Traherne and short essays about his influences, sources and seventeenth-century contexts as well as an index to the preceding volumes. Annotations in the separate volumes will be limited to textual notes, biblical references and immediately essential commentary. The arrangement of Traherne’s works within the seven volumes is not an attempt to represent them chronologically, since their dates are uncertain.
Added to the eight volumes will be a supplemental volume nine, containing Traherne’s notebooks, which consist primarily of extracts from other writers as well as undergraduate lecture notes. It will include its own introduction, annotations, glossary and index as well as translations of Latin and shorthand. Although separate from the eight volumes of Traherne’s works, it will form a crucial part of the edition as a whole, increasing our understanding of his reading and breadth of knowledge as well as his early learning.
I
An Empty Book is like an Infants Soul, in which any Thing may be Written. It is Capable of all Things, but containeth Nothing. I hav a Mind to fill this with Profitable Wonders. And since Love made you put it into my Hands, I will fill it with those Truths you Love, without s knowing them: and with those Things which if it be Possible, shall shew my Lov; To you, in Communicating most Enriching Truths’, to Truth, in Exalting Her Beauties in such a Soul.
2
Do not Wonder that I promise to fill it, with those Truths you love, but know not: For tho it be a Maxime in the Scholes, That there is no Lov of a thing unknown; yet I hav found, that Things unknown have a Secret Influence on the Soul: and like the Centre of the Earth 5 unseen, violently Attract it. We lov we know not what, and therfore evry Thing allures us. As Iron at a Distance is drawn by the Loadstone, there being some Invisible Communications between them: So is there in us a World of Lov to som what, tho we know not what in the World that should be. There are Invisible Ways of Conveyance, by 10 which som Great Thing doth touch our Souls, and by which we tend to it. Do you not feel your self Drawn with the Expectation and Desire of som Great Thing?
3
I will open my Mouth in Parables: I will utter Things that have been kept Secret from the foundation of the World. Things Strange, yet common; Incredible, yet Known: Most High, yet plain; infinitly Profitable, but not Esteemed. Is it not a Great Thing, that you should 5 be Heir of the World? Is it not an Enriching Veritie? In which the Fellowship of the Mystery, which from the beginning of the World hath been hid in GOD, was concealed! The Thing hath been from the Creation of the World, but hath not so been Explained, as that the interior Beauty should be understood. It is my Design therfore in such 10 a plain maner to unfold it, that my Friendship may appear in making you Possessor of the Whole World.
4
I will not by the Nois of Bloody Wars, and the Dethroning of Kings, advance you to Glory: but by the Gentle Ways of Peace and Lov. As a Deep Friendship meditats and intends the Deepest Designes for the Advancement of its Object, so doth it Shew it self in chusing the Sweetest and most Delightfull Methods, wherby not to Weary, but Pleas the Person, it desireth to advance. Where Lov administers Phys- ick, its Tenderness is exprest in Balms and Cordials. It hateth Corrosives, and is Rich in its Administrations. Even so God, Designing to 10 shew his Lov in exalting you hath chosen the Ways of Eas and Repose, by which you should ascend. And I after his Similitude will lead you into Paths Plain and Familiar. Where all Envy, Rapine, Bloodshed, Complaint, and Malice shall be far removed; and nothing appear but Contentment and Thanksgiving. Yet shall the End be so Glorious, that is Angels durst not hope for so Great a One till they had seen it.
5
The fellowship of the Mystery that hath been hid in God, since the Creation, is not only the Contemplation of his Lov in the Work of Redemption: Tho that is Wonderfull: But the End, for which we are s Redeemd: A Communion with Him in all His Glory, for which caus, S Peter saith The God of all Grace, hath called us into His Eternal Glory by Jesus Christ. His Eternal Glory by the Methods of His Divine Wisdom being made ours: and our Fruition of it, the End for which our Savior Suffered.
6
True Lov, as it intendeth the Greatest Gifts, intendeth also the Greatest Benefits. It contenteth not it self in Shewing Great Things unless it can make them Greatly Usefull. For Lov greatly Delighteth 5 in seeing its object continualy seated in the Highest Happiness. Unless therfore I could advance you Higher by the uses of what I give, my Lov could not be satisfied, in Giving you the Whole World. But becaus when you Enjoy it, you are Advanced to the Throne of God, and may see his Lov; I rest well pleased in Bestowing it. It will make you to see io your own Greatness, the Truth of the Scriptures, the Amiableness of Virtu, and the Beauty of Religion. It will enable you also, to contemn the World, and to over flow with Praises.
7
To Contemn the World, and to Enjoy the World, are Things contrary to each other. How then can we contemn the World which we are Born to Enjoy? Truly there are two Worlds. One was made by God, the 5 other by Men. That made by GOD, was Great and Beautifull. Before the Fall, It was Adams Joy, and the Temple of his Glory. That made by
men is a Babel of Confusions: Invented Riches, Pomps and Vanities, brought in by Sin. Giv all (saith Thomas a Kempis) for all. Leav the one that you may enjoy the other.
8
What is more Easy and Sweet then Meditation? yet in this hath God commended his Lov, that by Meditation it is Enjoyed. As Nothing is more Easy then to Think, so nothing is more Difficult then to Think Well. The Easiness of Thinking we received from God, the Difficulty 5 of thinking Well, proceedeth from our Selvs. yet in Truth, it is far more Easy to think well then Ill becaus Good thoughts be sweet and Delightfull: Evil Thoughts are full of Discontent and Trouble. So that an Evil Habit, and Custom hav made it Difficult to Think well, not Nature. For by Nature, nothing is so Difficult as to Think amiss. 10
9
Is it not Easy to conceiv the World in your Mind? To think the Heavens fair? The Sun Glorious? The Earth Fruitfull? The Air Pleasant? The Sea Profitable? And the Giver Bountifull? Yet these are the Things which it is difficult to retain. For could we always be Sensible 5 of their Use and Value; we Should be always Delighted with their Wealth and Glory.
10
To think well is to serv God in the Interior Court: To hav a Mind composed of Divine Thoughts, and set in frame, to be Like Him within. To Conceiv aright and to Enjoy the World, is to Conceiv the H. Ghost, and to see his Lov; Which is the Mind of the Father. And 5 this more Pleaseth Him then Many Worlds, could we Creat as fair and Great as this. For when you are once acquainted with the World, you will find the Goodness and Wisdom of God, so manifest therin, that it was Impossible another, or Better should be made. Which being made to be Enjoyed. Nothing can pleas or serv Him more then the Soul 10 that Enjoys it. For that Soul doth accomplish the End of his Desire in Creating it.
11
Lov is Deeper then at first it can be thought. It never ceaseth but in Endless Things. It ever Multiplies. Its Benefits and its Designes are always Infinit. Were you not Holy Divine and Blessed in Enjoying the World, I should not care so much to Bestow it. But now in this you 5
accomplish the End of your Creation, and serv God best, and Pleas Him most: I rejoyce in Giving it. For to Enable you to Pleas GOD, is the Highest Service a Man can do you. It is to make you Pleasing to the King of Heaven, that you may be the Darling of His Bosom.
12
Can you be Holy without Accomplishing the End for which you are Created? Can you be Divine unless you be Holy? Can you Accomplish the End for which you were Created, unless you be Righteous? Can s you then be Righteous, unless you be Just in rendering to Things their Due Esteem. All Things were made to be yours. And you were made to Prize them according to their Value, which is your Office and Duty, the End for which you were Created, and the Means wherby you Enjoy. The End for which you were Created is that by Prizing all that God io hath don, you may Enjoy your self and Him in Blessedness.
To be Holy is so Zealously to Desire, so vastly to Esteem, and so Earnestly to Endeavor it, that we would not for millions of Gold and Silver, Decline, nor fail, nor Mistake in a Tittle. For then we Pleas s God when we are most like Him. we are like Him when our Minds are in Frame. Our Minds are in Frame, when our Thoughts are like his. And our Thoughts are then like his when we hav such Conceptions of all objects as God hath, and prize all Things according to their Value. For God doth Prize all Things rightly. Which is a Key that opens into io the very Thoughts of his Bosom. It seemeth Arrogance to pretend to the Knowledg of his Secret Thoughts. But how shall we hav the Mind of God, unless we know his Thoughts? Or how shall we be led by his Divine Spirit, till we hav his Mind? His Thoughts are Hidden: but he hath revealed unto us the Hidden Things of Darkness. By his Works is and by his Attributs we know his Thoughts. And by Thinking the same are Divine and Blessed.
i4
When Things are ours in their Proper places, nothing is needfull but Prizing, to Enjoy them. God therfore hath made it infinitly Easy to Enjoy, by making evry Thing ours, and us able so Easily to Prize s them. Evry thing is ours that serves us in its place. The Sun servs us as much as is Possible, and more then we could imagine. The Clouds and Stars Minister unto us, the World surrounds us with Beauty, the Air refresheth us the Sea revives the Earth and us. The Earth it self is Better then Gold becaus it produceth fruits and flowers. And therfore in the Beginning, was it made Manifest to be mine, becaus Adam alone 10 was made to Enjoy it. By making One, and not a Multitud, God evidently Shewed One alone to be the End of the World, and evry one its Enjoyer. for evry one may Enjoy it as much as He.
15
Such Endless Depths lie in the Divinity, and the Wisdom of God, that as He maketh one, so He maketh evry one the End of the World: and the Supernumerary Persons being Enrichers of his Inheritance. Adam and the World are both mine. And the Posterity of Adam enrich 5 it Infinitly. Souls are Gods Jewels. Evry one of which is worth many Worlds. They are his Riches becaus his Image, and mine for that reason. So that I alone am the End of the World. Angels and Men being all mine. And if others are so, they are made to Enjoy it for my further Advancement. God only being the Giver, and I the Receiver. So that 10 Seneca Philosophized rightly, when he said, Deus me dedit Solum toti Mundo, and totum Mundum mihi Soli. God gave me alone to all the World, and all the World to me alone.
16
That all the World is yours, your very Senses and the Inclinations of your Mind declare. The Works of God manifest, his Laws testify, and his Word doth prove it. His Attributes most sweetly make it evident. The Powers of your Soul confirm it. So that in the midst of such rich 5 Demonstrations, you may infinitly Delight in God as your Father Friend and Benefactor, in your self as his Heir Child and Bride, in the Whole WORLD, as the Gift and Token of his Lov. Neither can any thing but Ignorance Destroy your Joys, for if you know your self, or God, or the World; you must of Necessity Enjoy it. 10
To know GOD is Life Eternal. There must therfore some Exceeding Great Thing be always attained in the Knowledge of Him. To Know God is to Know Goodness; It is to see the Beauty of infinit Lov: To see it attended with Almighty Power and Eternal Wisdom; 5 and using both those in the Magnifying of its Object. It is to see the King of Heaven and Earth take infinit Delight in Giving. Whatever Knowledge els you hav of God, it is but Superstition. Which Plutarch rightly Defineth to be an Ignorant Dread of his Divine Power, without any Joy in his Goodness. He is not an Object of Terror, but Delight. To 10
know Him therfore as He is, is to frame the most Beautifull Idea in all Worlds. He Delighteth in our Happiness more then we: and is of all other the most Lovly Object. An Infinit Lord, who having all Riches Honors and Pleasures in his own Hand, is infinitly Willing to give is them unto me. Which is the fairest Idea that can be Devised.
18
The WORLD is not this little Cottage of Heaven and Earth. Tho this be fair, it is too small a Gift. When God made the WORLD, He made the Heavens and the Heavens of Heavens, and the Angels and 5 the Celestial Powers. These also are parts of the World, so are all those infinit and Eternal Treasures that are to abide for ever, after the Day of Judgement. Neither are these, some here, and some there, but all evry where, and at once to be Enjoyed. The WORLD is unknown, till the Value and Glory of it is seen: till the Beauty and the Serviceableness of io its Parts is Considered. When you enter into it, it is an illimited feild ofVarietie and Beauty: where you may lose your self in the Multitude of Wonders and Delights. But it is an Happy Loss to lose one self in Admiration at ones own Felicity: and to find GOD in Exchange for oneself. Which we then do when we see Him in His Gifts, and Adore is his Glory.
19
You never know your self, till you know more then your Body. The Image of God was not seated in the features of your face, but in the Lineaments of your Soul. In the knowledg of your Powers, Inclina- s tions and Principles, the Knowledg of your self cheifly consisteth. Which are so Great that even to the most Learned of Men their Greatness is Incredible; and so Divine, that they are infinit in Value. Alass the WORLD is but a little Centre in Comparison of you. Suppose it Millions of Miles from the Earth to the Heavens, and Millions of Mil- io lions above the Stars, both here, and over the heads of our Antipodes: it is surrounded with infinit and Eternal Space: And like a Gentlemans house to one that is Travelling, It is a long time before you com unto it, you passe it in an Instant, and leave it for ever. The Omnipresence and Eternity of God are your Fellows and Companions. And all that is in is them ought to be made your familiar Treasures. Your Understanding comprehends the World like the Dust of a Ballance, measures Heaven with a Span and esteems a thousand yeers but as one Day. So that Great Endless Eternal Delights are only fit to be its Enjoyments.
20
The Laws of GOD, which are the Commentaries of his Works, shew them to be yours: becaus They teach you to lov God with all your Soul, and with all your Might. Whom if you lov with all the Endless Powers of your Soul, you will lov Him in Him self, in His Attributs, s in His Counsels, in all his Works, in all His Ways: and in evry Kind of Thing wherin He appeareth, you will Prize Him, you will Honor Him, you will Delight in Him, you will ever desire to be with him and to pleas Him. For to lov Him includeth all this. You will feed with Pleasure upon evry Thing that is His. So that the World shall be a Grand 10 Jewel of Delight unto you: a very Paradice; and the Gate of Heaven. It is indeed the Beautifull Frontis Piece of Eternitie. the Temple of God, the Palace of his children. The Laws of God Discover all that is therin to be Created for your sake. For they command you to lov all that is Good, and when you see well, you enjoy what you lov. They 15 apply the Endless Powers of your Soul to all their Objects: And by ten thousand Methods make evry Thing to serv you. They command you to lov all Angels and Men, They command all Angels and Men to lov you. When you lov them, they are your Treasures; when They lov you to your great advantage, you are theirs. All Things serv you for serving 20 them whom you lov, and of whom you are Beloved. The Enterance of His Words giveth Light to the Simple. You are Magnified among Angels and men: Enriched by them, and Happy in them.
21
By the very Right of your Sences you Enjoy the World. Is not the Beauty of the Hemisphere present to your Ey? Doth not the Glory of the Sun pay Tribut to your Sight? Is not the Vision of the WORLD an Amiable Thing? Do not the Stars shed Influences to perfect the 5 Air? Is not that a marvellous Body to Breath in? To visit the Lungs: repair the Spirits: revive the Sences: Cool the Blood: fill the Empty Spaces between the Earth and Heavens; and yet giv Liberty to all Objects? Prize these first: and you shall Enjoy the Residue. Glory, Dominion, Power, Wisdom, Honor, Angels, Souls, Kingdoms, Ages. 10 Be faithfull in a little, and you shall be Master over much. If you be not faithfull in esteeming these, who shall put into your Hands the true Treasures. If you be Negligent in Prizing these, you will be negligent in Prizing all. there is a Diseas in Him who Despiseth present mercies, which till it be cured, he can never be Happy. He esteemeth nothing 15 that he hath, but is ever Gaping after more: which when he hath He despiseth in like manner. Insatiableness is Good, but not Ingratitud.
for more go to: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/traherne/centuries.i_1.html
[1] See Bertram Dobell, ed., The Poetical Works of Thomas Traherne, B.D. 16361-1674 (London, 1903; repr. 1906); and Centuries of Meditations (London, 1908).
[2] See H. I. Bell, ed., Traherne’s Poems of Felicity (Oxford, 1910).
[3] ‘A New Traherne Manuscript’, The Times Literary Suppletnent (October 8, 1964): 928.
[4] ‘A New Traherne Manuscript’, The Times Literary Supplement (March 19, 1982): 324.
[5] ‘Felicity disguisd in fiery Words: Genesis and Exodus in a Newly Discovered Poem by Thomas Traherne’, The Times Literary Supplement (November 7, 1997): 17-
[6] Denise Inge and Calum MacFarlane, ‘Seeds of Eternity: A New Traherne Manuscript’, The Times Literary Supplement (June 2, 2000): 14.
[7] The Poetical Works of Thomas Traherne, B.D., pp. Ixxiii-lxxiv.
[8] See Index of English Literary Manuscripts, vol. 11: 1625—1700, Part 2, compiled by Peter Beal (London and New York: Mansell Publishing Limited, 1993), p. 482.