From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordAnselm is the medieval theologian and Archbishop of Canterbury, dated 1033–1109 in the supplied note.
- In TraherneThe prayer to Jesus asks for love stronger than death, unquenchable by waters, and resistant to every separation.
- In this editionThe supplied note attributes the reported saying to Anselm’s biographer Eadmer; Traherne himself gives no title or documentary citation.
- A place to beginAnselm’s preference for suffering rather than sin strengthens a prayer for invincible, continual love of Christ.
Meaning
Anselm is the medieval theologian and Archbishop of Canterbury, dated 1033–1109 in the supplied note. Traherne invokes him as an example of love’s refusal to consent to sin.
Use in the book
The prayer to Jesus asks for love stronger than death, unquenchable by waters, and resistant to every separation. Within that sequence, Anselm supplies an extreme imagined choice: suffering hell would be preferable to sinning against the beloved Lord. The comparison expresses the priority of fidelity over personal ease. It is surrounded by overflowing fountains, depths, flame, the sea, and the tabernacle’s enduring lamp. These images enlarge the petition from momentary intensity to constancy. The sun’s continuous shining finally becomes a rebuke to intermittent human love, and the soul asks to become a living sacrifice.
Places to read
- I.91Anselm’s preference for suffering rather than sin strengthens a prayer for invincible, continual love of Christ.
In this edition
The supplied note attributes the reported saying to Anselm’s biographer Eadmer; Traherne himself gives no title or documentary citation.
Source note
Primary text: I.91. Supplied 2026 editorial note 79 provides Anselm’s identification, dates, and Eadmer’s report of the saying.