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 382 of 454
The Fourth Century · Meditation IV.68
Centuries of Meditations
p. 38268
Shall it not love violently what God loveth, what Jesus Christ loveth, what all Saints and Angels love? Moses glorified God in a wonderful manner; he prophesied of Christ, he plagued the Egyptians, he brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, he guided them in the wilderness, he gave us the law, he loved the people more than his own life: yea, than his own self and all the possible glory that might have accrued to him. Shall not He be beloved? And what shall we think of Christ Himself? Shall not all our love be where His is? Shall it not wholly follow and attend Him? Yet shall it not forsake other objects, but love them all in Him, and Him in them, and them the more because of Him, and Him the more because of them; for by Him it is redeemed to them. So that as God is omnipresent our love shall be at once with all: that is we: having those strengths to animate and quicken our affection.
Socrates
Reading Centuries of Meditations · The Fourth Century · Meditation IV.68
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.