From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordBeatific means making blessed or happy.
- In TraherneIII.60 calls the spectacle just described a great part of the beatific vision.
- In this editionThe supplied notes gloss Beatific Sight and identify Gregory the Great behind the angelic discussion.
- A place to beginPlaces earthly triumph next to the Beatific Sight while anticipating another life.
Meaning
Beatific means making blessed or happy. The beatific vision is the sight of God enjoyed by the blessed. Traherne relates this theological expression to earthly apprehension of divine happiness, while preserving distinctions between present participation, angelic contemplation, and the life to come.
Use in the book
III.60 calls the spectacle just described a great part of the beatific vision. Its antecedent in III.59 is humanity’s enjoyment of God’s treasures after God’s likeness. Seeing this happiness transforms the observer, draws the soul into communion, and reveals creatures in a divine light. The practical consequence is inward restoration: the speaker must be changed to enjoy the treasures already rightly placed around him.
The poem in III.47 both anticipates and distinguishes heavenly fulfilment. Contentment, freedom, and victory amid earthly trials stand next to the Beatific Sight. Temptations and tears remain, and the next life promises further joy. Present blessedness is therefore real without being identical in every respect to the final vision.
III.98 turns to angels who continue their inward contemplation while fulfilling outward ministry. Their example encourages readers to retain divine greatness in understanding or, when vivid awareness fails, in memory and action. The argument does not require withdrawal from service. Nor does it make the angel itself unlimited: the angelic spirit remains circumscribed, while God’s omnipresence enlarges its knowledge.
Places to read
- III.47Places earthly triumph next to the Beatific Sight while anticipating another life.
- III.59Defines blessed enjoyment through likeness to God’s manner of enjoying.
- III.60Calls the apprehended happiness a great part of the beatific vision.
- III.98Makes simultaneous angelic contemplation and service a practical example.
In this edition
The supplied notes gloss Beatific Sight and identify Gregory the Great behind the angelic discussion. Read the qualifications great part and next closely: they connect present and heavenly happiness without erasing the distinction between them.
Source note
Primary text: III.47, III.59, III.60, III.98. Supplied 2026 editorial notes 210 and 255 gloss the Beatific Sight and identify the discussion of angels with Gregory the Great’s Homilies on the Gospels 34 and Moralia in Job II.3.