Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · English Edition
Centuries of Meditations
Annotated Edition · With an Introduction, Notes and an Outline.
Explore the LexiconSwipe or use the arrow keys.
English Edition · Branch 141 of 454
The Second Century · Meditation II.27
Centuries of Meditations
p. 14127
As Love is righteous in glorifying itself and making its object blessed: so is it in all its dealings and dispensations towards it. Having made it amiable, it cannot but love it, which it is righteous in doing, for to love what is lovely is a righteous thing. To make it infinitely amiable is a righteous thing to infinite Love: and to love it infinitely, being infinitely amiable. For thereby infinite Love doth right to itself and its measure: yea, to itself and its object. To tender what is amiable is a righteous thing: to hurt it is evil. Love therefore is infinitely righteous in being infinitely tender of its object’s welfare: and in hating infinitely the sin of hurting it. It is righteous in commanding others to promote it, and in punishing those that injure or offend it. And thus have you a Gate, in the prospect even of this world, whereby you may see into God’s Kingdom. For by His works you see that God is Love, and: by His Love see the nature of all righteousness opened and unfolded: with the ground and foundation of rewards and punishments.
Socrates
Reading Centuries of Meditations · The Second Century · Meditation II.27
Ask about a concept, passage, contradiction, or connection.
Socrates will begin with this book and its sources.About This Reading Edition
Thomas Traherne’s Centuries explore felicity, childhood vision, love, and the soul’s capacity to enjoy the world. This annotated English edition presents all 410 meditations across five Centuries, with an introduction, explanatory notes, an outline, and textual apparatus.
Historical Text
The Centuries survive in Traherne’s manuscript and were first published by Bertram Dobell in London in 1908. The supplied edition follows the corrected Dobell text, with manuscript readings documented in its Note on the Text and Textual Notes. The four complete Centuries contain one hundred meditations each; the unfinished Fifth contains ten.
About This Edition
Diotimos Editions prepared the introduction, explanatory notes, glossary, reading guide, outline, and textual apparatus for this English original. Century and meditation numbers preserve the work’s structure, while verse line breaks, italics, and struck-through manuscript cancellations remain visible. Notes accompany their passages in the reader and Book Mode.
Rights
Thomas Traherne’s historical text and Bertram Dobell’s 1908 printing are in the public domain. The introduction, notes, and apparatus are © 2026 Diotimos Editions. Historical printing and transcription links identify the edition’s copy-text; manuscript corrections and unresolved readings are documented in the supplied editorial apparatus.