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← ExitCenturies of Meditations

The First Century

75

Being to lead this Life within, I was placed in Paradise without, with some advantages which the Angels have not: And being designed to immortality and an endless life, was to abide with God from everlasting to everlasting in all His ways. But I was deceived by my appetite, and fell into Sin. Ungratefully I despised Him that gave me my being. I offended in an apple against Him that gave me the whole world: But Thou O Saviour art here upon the Cross suffering for my Sins. What shall I render unto Thee for so great a Mercy! All thanksgiving is too weak, and all expression too feeble. I give Thee myself, my Soul and Body I offer unto Thee. It is unworthy of Thee, but Thou lovest me. Wash me with Thy blood from all my Sins: And fill me with Thy Holy Spirit that I may be like unto Thee. So shall I praise Thy Name acceptably for ever more. Amen.

76

And now, O Lord, Heaven and Earth are infinitely more valuable than they were before, being all bought with Thy precious blood. And Thou, O Jesus, art a treasure unto me far greater than all those. At what rate or measure shall I esteem Thee? Thou hast restored me again to the friendship of God, to the enjoyment of the World, to the hope of Eternal Glory, to the love of Angels, Cherubims, and Men. To the enjoyment and obedience of Thy Holy Laws: which alone are sweeter to me than the honey and the honeycomb, and more precious than thousands of gold and silver. Thou hast restored me above all to the Image of God. And Thou hast redeemed all Ages and Kingdoms for me alone, who am commanded to love them as Thou dost. O that I might be unto them as Thou art! O that I might be unto Thee as Thou art to me, as glorious and as rich in Love! O that I might die for Thee! O that I might ever live unto Thee! In every thought, in every action of my life, in every moment I bless Thee for renewing the old commandment; upon new obligations among Sinners,– As I have loved you, so do ye also love one another. O let Thy love be in me that Thy joy may be fulfilled in me for evermore.

77

Now O Lord I see the greatness of Thy love wherewith Thou diest. And by Thy actions more than by Thy sufferings admire Thee. But henceforth I will more admire Thee by Thy sufferings; for considering that such actions went before; what love must move Thee to come into the place of guilty Sinners!

78

Lord I lament and abhor myself that I have been the occasion of these Thy sufferings. I had never known the dignity of my nature, hadst not Thou esteemed it: I had never seen nor understood its glory, hadst not Thou assumed it. Be Thou pleased to unite me unto Thee in the bands of an Individual Love, that I may ever more live unto Thee, and live in Thee. And by how much the more vile I have been, let my love be so much, O Lord, the more violent henceforth, and fervent unto Thee. O Thou who wouldst never have permitted sin, hadst Thou not known how to bring good out of evil, have pity upon me: hear my prayer. O my God since pity embalms love, let Thine come enriched, and be more precious to me, miserable Sinner. Let the remembrance of all the glory wherein I was created make me more serious and humble, more deep and penitent, more pure and holy before Thee. And since the World is sprinkled with Thy blood, and adorned with all Kingdoms and Ages for me: which are Heavenly Treasures and vastly greater than Heaven and Earth, let me see Thy glory in the preparation of them, and Thy goodness in their government. Open unto me the Gate of Righteousness, that I may enter in to the New Jerusalem.

79

My Lord, Thou head of the Holy Catholic Church, I admire and praise Thee for purchasing to Thyself such a glorious Bride and for uniting us all by the blood of Thy Cross, I beseech Thee let my love unto all be regular like Thine, and pure, and infinite. Make it Divine and make it Holy. I confess I can see, but I cannot moderate, nor love as I ought. I pray Thee for Thy loving kindness sake supply my want in this particular. And so make me to love all, that I may be a blessing to all: and well pleasing to Thee in all, Teach me wisdom, how to expend my blood, estate, life, and time in Thy service for the good of all, and make all them that are round about me wise and holy as Thou art, That we might all be knit together in Godly Love, and united in Thy service to Thy Honour and Glory.

80

My excellent friend, you see that there are treasures in Heaven and Earth fit to be enjoyed, besides those of King’s Courts, and Taverns. The joys of the Temple are the greatest joys were they understood; they are the most magnificent, solemn and divine. There are glorious entertainments in this miserable world, could we find them out. What more delightful can be imagined, than to see a Saviour at this distance, dying on the Cross to redeem a man from Hell, and to see oneself the beloved of God and all Kingdoms, yea, the admired of ages, and the heir of the whole world? Hath not His blood united you and me, cannot we see and love and enjoy each other at a hundred miles distance? In Him is the only sweet and divine enjoyment. I desire but an amiable Soul in any part of all Eternity, and can love it unspeakably: And if love it, enjoy it. For love implies pleasure, because it is ever pleased with what is beloved. Love God and Jesus Christ and Angels and Men, which you are made to do as naturally as the sun is made to shine, and the beauty of the Holy Ghost dwelling in you will make you my delight, the treasure of the Holy Angels. You will at last be seen by me and all others, in all your thoughts and in all your motions. In the mean time, delight only in the love of Jesus, and direct all your love unto Him. Adore Him, rejoice in Him, admire His love and praise Him; secretly and in the congregation. Enjoy His Saints that are round about you, make yourself amiable that you may be admitted to their enjoyment, by meekness, temperance, modesty, humility, charity, chastity, devotion, cheerfulness, gratitude, joy, thanksgiving. Retire from them that you may be the more precious, and come out unto them the more wise. So shall you make the place wherein you live a nest of sweet perfumes, and every Soul that is round about you will be a bed of Honour, and sweet repose unto you.

81

My goodness extendeth not to Thee, O Lord, but to Thy Saints, and to the excellent in the Earth in whom is all my delight. To delight in the Saints of God is the way to Heaven. One would think it exceeding easy and reasonable to esteem those whom Jesus purchased with His precious blood. And if we do so how can we choose but inherit all things. All the Saints of all Ages and all Kingdoms are His inheritance, His treasures, His jewels. Shall they not be yours since they are His whom you love so infinitely? There is not a cup of cold water given to a disciple in the name of a disciple, but He accepteth it as done to Himself. Had you been with Mary Magdalen, would you not have anointed His feet, and washed them in tears, and wiped them with the hairs of your head? His poor servants, His contemptible and disguised members here upon earth are his feet, yea more the apple of His eye: yea more for He gave His eyes and heart and hands and feet for them. O therefore universally in all places tender them, and at all times be ready and willing to minister unto them. And that with infinite joy, knowing the excellency of your duty. For you are enjoying the world, and communicating yourself like God unto them. You are laying up treasure in Heaven, and enlarging your Soul, beautifying your life, and delighting the Holy Angels, offering up sacrifices unto God, and perfuming the world; embracing Jesus Christ and caressing your Saviour, while you are dispensing charities among them. Every alms deed is a precious stone in the Crown of Glory.

82

But there are a sort of Saints meet to be your companions, in another manner, but that they lie concealed. You must therefore make yourself exceeding virtuous that by the very splendour of your fame you may find them out. While the wicked are like heaps of rubbish, those few jewels lie buried in the ruins of mankind: and must diligently be digged for. You may know them by their lustre, and by the very desire and esteem they have of you when you are virtuous. For as it is the glory of the sun that darkness cannot approach it, because it is always encompassed with its own beams; so is it the privilege of Holy Souls, that they are always secure in their own light, which driveth away devils and evil men: and is accessible by none, but lovers of virtue. Beginners and desirers will give you the opportunity of infusing yourself and your principles into them. Practicers and growers will mingle souls and be delightful companions. The sublime and perfect, in the lustre of their spirit, will show you the Image of Almighty God and the joys of Heaven. They will allure, protect, encourage, comfort, teach, honour and delight you. But you must be very good, for that is the way to find them. And very patient to endure some time, and very diligent to observe where they are.

63.Traherne speaks in the person of Adam, in whom all mankind fell (Romans 5:12; 1 Corinthians 15:22). Genesis names only the fruit of the tree; the apple came from Latin tradition, helped by the pun on malum, both apple and evil.

64.St John calls the command to love both old and new (1 John 2:7-8); the words that follow are Christ’s new commandment, “as I have loved you, that ye also love one another” (John 13:34), quoted again at I.96. The laws sweeter than the honey and the honeycomb and more precious than thousands of gold and silver, above, are Psalms 19:10 and 119:72 (compare I.39).

65.Inseparable, not to be divided (Latin individuus), the older sense of the word; Milton’s Adam calls Eve “an individual solace dear” (Paradise Lost IV.486, 1667).

66.Augustine’s answer to the problem of evil. God, being supremely good, would never permit evil in His works unless He could bring good even out of evil (Enchiridion 11), and judged it better to do so than to permit no evil at all (Enchiridion 27). Compare Genesis 50:20, “ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good”.

67.The Church universal, in the words of the Apostles’ Creed, not the Church of Rome, against whose claims Traherne published Roman Forgeries (1673). Christ as head of the Church is Ephesians 5:23.

68.The whole of this meditation is cancelled in the manuscript by two long diagonal strokes that form a large X from its first line to its last, and nothing is written in its place. Dobell printed it with a footnote saying that the author seemed to intend it to be omitted, and this edition prints it as he did. Why Traherne cancelled it is not known.

69.Perhaps a round figure for any distance, perhaps a real one; where author and friend each lived while the book was written is not known (see the Introduction). Traherne lived at Credenhill, near Hereford, until early 1674, when he became domestic chaplain to Sir Orlando Bridgeman, Lord Keeper until 1672, at Teddington on the Thames, well over a hundred miles away; he witnessed Bridgeman’s will on 19 February 1674.

70.Psalm 16:2-3, almost word for word from the Authorised Version, “my goodness extendeth not to thee; But to the saints that are in the earth”, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.

71.The woman who washed Christ’s feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair is unnamed in the Gospel (Luke 7:37-38), and it was Mary of Bethany who anointed His feet (John 12:3). Western tradition since Gregory the Great (Homilies on the Gospels 33) made both of them Mary Magdalen, and Traherne follows it.

72.Traherne’s three ranks of the devout follow the old division of the spiritual life into beginners, proficients and the perfect, which Aquinas gives as the three degrees of charity (Summa Theologiae II-II q.24 a.9).