From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordTo prevent often means to go before, anticipate, or provide in advance.
- In TraherneGod prevents the speaker with gifts already bestowed before they are noticed, and prevents the desire for a heavenly book by providing Scripture before the speaker’s birth.
- In this editionThe 2026 notes to these passages explain the older sense.
- A place to beginDivine blessings arrive before grateful recognition.
Meaning
To prevent often means to go before, anticipate, or provide in advance. The modern sense of stopping something from happening cannot simply replace it in these devotional and philosophical contexts.
Use in the book
God prevents the speaker with gifts already bestowed before they are noticed, and prevents the desire for a heavenly book by providing Scripture before the speaker’s birth. Eternity also lets understanding prevent bodily movement by reaching destinations in thought before the traveller arrives. In the account of pure divine activity, power is prevented with act: no unrealized potential waits to become effective. These uses make priority an expression of generosity or plenitude, rather than frustration. The verb can still shade toward forestalling danger, so it needs local attention.
Places to read
In this edition
The 2026 notes to these passages explain the older sense. The praise at I.66 does not thank God for obstructing His own blessings.
Source note
Primary text: I.66, III.27, V.8, II.84; historical gloss: 2026 edition notes to I.66, III.27, V.8.