Diotimos Library · Journals, Notebooks & Fragments Collection · English Edition
Centuries of Meditations
Annotated Edition · With an Introduction, Notes and an Outline.
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English Edition · Branch 166 of 454
The Second Century · Meditation II.52
Centuries of Meditations
p. 16652
The true WAY we may go unto His Throne, and can never exceed, nor be too high. All hyperboles are but little pigmies, and diminutive expressions, in comparison of the Truth. All that Adam could propose to himself or hope for was laid up in store for him, in a better way than he could ask or think: but in seeking for it a false way he lost all; what he had in hope, and what he had in fruition. To be as Gods, we are prompted to desire by the instinct of nature. And that we shall be by Loving all as He doth. But by loving Him what, O what, shall we be? By loving Him according to the greatness of His love unto us, according to His amiableness, as we ought, and according to the obligations that lie upon us, we shall be no man can devise what. We shall love Him infinitely more than ourselves, and therefore live infinitely more in Him than in ourselves, and be infinitely more delighted with His Eternal Blessedness than our own. We shall infinitely more delight ⸻ than ourselves. All worlds, all Angels, all men, all kingdoms, all creatures will be more ours in Him than in ourselves: so will His Essence and Eternal Godhead. Oh Love what hast Thou done!
Socrates
Reading Centuries of Meditations · The Second Century · Meditation II.52
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.