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 Third Century · Meditation III.69

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English Edition · Branch 283 of 454

The Third Century · Meditation III.69

Book Mode

Centuries of Meditations

p. 283

69

1In Salem dwelt a glorious King, Raised from a shepherd’s lowly state; That did His praises like an angel sing Who did the World create. By many great and bloody wars He was advanced unto Thrones But more delighted in the stars Than in the splendour of his precious stones; Nor gold nor silver did his eye regard The Works of God were his sublime reward,2A warlike champion he had been, And many feats of chivalry Had done: in kingly courts his eye had seen A vast variety Of earthly joys: Yet he despis’d Those fading honours, and false pleasures Which are by mortals so much prized; And placed his happiness in other treasures No state of life which in this world we find Could yield contentment to his greater mind.3His fingers touched his trembling lyre, And every quavering string did yield A sound that filled all the Jewish quire, And echoed in the field. No pleasure was so great to him As in a silent night to see The moon and stars: A cherubim Above them, even here, he seem’d to be: Enflam’d with Love it was his great desire, To sing, contemplate, ponder, and admire.4He was a prophet, and foresaw Things extant in the world to come: He was a judge, and ruled by a law That than the honeycomb Was sweeter far: he was a sage, And all his people could advise; An oracle, whose every page Contained in verse the greatest mysteries; But most he then enjoyed himself when he Did as a poet praise the Deity.5A shepherd, soldier, and divine, A judge, a courtier, and a king, Priest, angel, prophet, oracle, did shine At once when he did sing. Philosopher and poet too Did in his melody appear; All these in him did please the view Of those that did his heavenly music hear And every drop that from his flowing quill Came down, did all the world with nectar fill6He had a deep and perfect sense Of all the glories and the pleasures That in God’s works are hid: the excellence Of such transcendent treasures Made him on earth an heavenly king, And filled his solitudes with joy; He never did more sweetly sing Than when alone, though that doth mirth destroy: Sense did his soul with heavenly life inspire, And made him seem in God’s celestial quire.7Rich, sacred, deep and precious things Did here on earth the man surround: With all the Glory of the King of Kings He was most strangely crowned. His clear soul and open sight Among the Sons of God did see Things filling Angels with delight: His ear did hear their heavenly melody, And when he was alone he all became That Bliss implied, or did increase his fame.8All arts he then did exercise; And as his God he did adore By secret ravishments above the skies He carried was before He died. His soul did see and feel What others know not; and became, While he before his God did kneel, A constant, heavenly, pure, seraphic flame. Oh that I might unto his throne aspire, And all his joys above the stars admire!

224.Salem is Jerusalem (Psalm 76:2). The poem draws David’s life from Scripture, the shepherd taken from the sheepfolds (1 Samuel 16:11-13; Psalm 78:70-71), the warrior who “made great wars” (1 Chronicles 22:8), the champion who met Goliath in single combat (1 Samuel 17), the harper who played before Saul (1 Samuel 16:23), and the king who appointed the Levites as singers and players (1 Chronicles 15:16), the Jewish quire or choir. Seventy-three psalms are headed as David’s in the Hebrew, and he was held to be the author of the Psalter.

225.Dobell records that Traherne first wrote removed from all annoy and then struck the words through, writing the present reading above them, as the manuscript shows. The first version praised solitude as freedom from trouble; the revision grants that solitude destroys mirth for most men, and so makes David’s joy alone the stranger. Annoy, as at III.47, is trouble, vexation.

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.