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 277 of 454
The Third Century · Meditation III.63
Centuries of Meditations
p. 27763
To be satisfied in God is the highest difficulty in the whole world, and yet most easy to be done. To make it possible that we should be satisfied in God was an achievement of infinite weight, before it was attempted, and the most difficult thing in all worlds before it was achieved. For we naturally expect infinite things of God: and can be satisfied only with the highest reason. So that the best of all possible things must be wrought in God, or else we shall remain dissatisfied: But it is most easy at present, because God is. For God is not a being compounded of body and soul, or substance and accident, or power and act, but is all act; pure act, a Simple Being whose essence is to be, whose Being is to be perfect so that He is most perfect towards all and in all. He is most perfect for all and by all. He is in nothing imperfect, because His Being is to be perfect. It is impossible for Him to be God and imperfect: and therefore do we so ardently and infinitely desire His absolute perfection.
Socrates
Reading Centuries of Meditations · The Third Century · Meditation III.63
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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.