Centuries of Meditations

Name: Centuries of Meditations
Author: Thomas Traherne

Annotated Edition · With an Introduction, Notes and an Outline.

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Centuries of MeditationsThe First Century · Meditation I.100

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English Edition · Branch 114 of 454

The First Century · Meditation I.100

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Centuries of Meditations

p. 114

100

Christ dwelling in our hearts by Faith is an Infinite Mystery, which may thus be understood: An object seen, is in the faculty seeing it, and by that in the Soul of the seer, after the best of manners: Whereas there are eight manners of in-being, the in-being of an object in a faculty is the best of all. Dead things are in a room containing them in a vain manner; unless they are objectively in the Soul of a seer. The pleasure of an enjoyer is the very end why things placed are in any place. The place and the thing placed in it, being both in the understanding of a spectator of them. Things dead in dead place effect nothing. But in a living Soul, that seeth their excellencies, they excite a pleasure answerable to their value, a wisdom to embrace them, a courage not to forsake them, a love of their Donor, praises and thanksgivings; and a greatness and a joy equal to their goodness. And thus all ages are present in my soul, and all kingdoms, and God blessed forever. And thus Jesus Christ is seen in me, and dwelleth in me, when I believe upon Him. And thus all Saints are in me, and I in them. And thus all Angels and the Eternity and Infinity of God are in me for evermore. I being the living temple and comprehensor of them. Since therefore all other ways of In-being would be utterly vain, were it not for this: And the Kingdom of God (as our Saviour saith, this way) is within you, let us ever think and meditate on Him, that His conception, nativity, life and death may be always within us. Let heaven and earth, men and angels, God and His creatures be always within us, that is in our sight, in our sense, in our love and esteem: that in the light of the Holy Ghost we may see the glory of His Eternal Kingdom, and sing the song of Moses, and the song of the Lamb saying, Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty, just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of Saints.

84.Aristotle distinguishes eight ways in which one thing is said to be in another (Physics IV.3, 210a14-24), as a part in the whole, the whole in its parts, the species in the genus, the genus in the species, form in matter, the affairs of a people in their ruler, a thing in its end, and a thing in a vessel or place, which he calls the most proper sense. Traherne ranks the being of an object in the faculty that sees it best of all. Dobell thought the word might possibly be read “right”, but the manuscript reads “eight”, and Aristotle’s count confirms it. Whereas here means while; of the eight ways, this is the best.

85.As objects of thought, present to the mind that knows them. This is the scholastic sense (a thing’s esse obiectivum, its being as an object), which Descartes still used when he spoke of the objective reality of an idea (Meditations III, 1641); it is almost the reverse of the modern sense.

86.One who comprehends, holding all things within. In scholastic theology the word also named the blessed who have attained the vision of God, as against wayfarers still on the road (Aquinas, Summa Theologiae III q.15 a.10). The living temple recalls 1 Corinthians 3:16, “ye are the temple of God”.

87.Revelation 15:3, the song of the redeemed who stand by the sea of glass, quoted word for word from “Great and marvellous are thy works”; its last words close the First Century (see the note at I.86). The kingdom of God within you, earlier in the meditation, is Luke 17:21, and Christ dwelling in the heart by faith, at its opening, Ephesians 3:17.

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.