From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
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At a Glance
- The wordThe Sabbath is sacred rest, and in the plural can designate appointed holy days.
- In TraherneIn the recollection of infancy, all time appears as a perpetual Sabbath.
- In this editionThe plural Sabbaths in the poem is an intentional enlargement of sacred rest.
- A place to beginInfant perception is figured as eternity and a perpetual Sabbath.
Meaning
The Sabbath is sacred rest, and in the plural can designate appointed holy days. Traherne also extends its pattern to an entire life of delighted communion.
Use in the book
In the recollection of infancy, all time appears as a perpetual Sabbath. The phrase belongs to a world seen as pure gift, before the child knows exaction, sickness, and social contention. It characterizes the quality of apprehension, not a claim that the ordinary calendar had disappeared.
The poem about a life of Sabbaths deliberately tests this ideal against a world where sin, tears, and temptation remain. Earthly bliss includes overcoming, and each tear can acquire a future significance that is not yet apparent. Meanwhile actual sabbaths retain a place among the institutions of the covenant of grace. The expansive metaphor grows from religious observance rather than dismissing it.
Places to read
In this edition
The plural Sabbaths in the poem is an intentional enlargement of sacred rest. Do not equate it with the absence of effort: the poem explicitly commends conquest of inward lusts.
Source note
Primary text: III.2, III.43, III.47. No 2026 editorial notes used.