Worship

Use in the book

Public noise, pomp, bells and dietary observances make worship useful by marking festivals and the year. Joubert expressly places these practices within private as well as public life. The painting fragment, however, speaks of inward worship while refusing to make that inwardness the sole explanation of painting’s Christian character. A further note imagines God accepting worship judged true in simplicity. Outward observance and inward sincerity are thus distinct dimensions, not mutually exclusive definitions.

Places to read

1. I, p. 141, entry 6, ¶1Public observance gives time and communal life their variety.
2. II, p. 640, entry 4, ¶1Inward worship enters an unfinished comparison between painting and sculpture.
3. II, p. 845, entry 4, ¶1Simplicity qualifies the judgment that worship is true.

Translation in this edition

The English translation renders le maigre and le gras as abstinence from meat and eating meat. In the public/private pairing, vie intérieure becomes “private life”; in the painting note, intérieur becomes “inward.” The translation does not force one English adjective upon both contexts.

Blessing

French: bénir.

Bénir links a Capuchin’s blessing with the speaker’s consolation of a thief in a stark two-sentence juxtaposition. Another prayer wishes the holy name blessed for mortals’ happiness. The English translation leaves the first day incomplete and does not infer a specific ritual or a causal relation between blessing and consolation.

Places to read: I, p. 61, entry 1, ¶1; I, p. 127, entry 2, ¶2.

Use in the book

The prospect of all nations worshipping supplies a greater delight than a merely silent landscape, because persons knowingly answer the bounty that sustains them. Traherne’s enjoyment of nature therefore moves toward a social and vocal fulfillment rather than ending with aesthetic solitude.

David provides the practical pattern. Praise in the congregation, fidelity to promises, mercy toward enemies, care for the poor, and the building and furnishing of a temple belong together. Worship is not narrowed to ceremonial performance, but neither are instruments, gatherings, and sacred places dismissed. They become appropriate expressions of the grateful friendship that seeks to make divine goodness known among others.

Places to read

1. III.73The nations’ worship is read as a source of David’s delight.
2. III.87A world of praising persons surpasses a merely silent prospect.
3. III.93Public praise, charitable conduct, and the establishment of worship form one pattern of gratitude.

In this edition

The psalmic exhortations quoted here and Traherne’s ensuing applications are distinct voices on the page. Attribute the universal worship scene to its scriptural setting before stating his interpretation.

Use in the book

Worship is one of the two principal ends Ficino finds in reading Plato, the other being recognition of souls' divinity. The Proem makes this activity depend on knowledge and purification: the soul is purified to perceive divine light, causes are investigated so that the cause of causes may be found and revered, and self-knowledge prepares knowledge of God. Piety consequently describes how inquiry is directed, not simply an external observance added after argument. Ficino opposes separating love of wisdom from the honor due to wisdom or true understanding from right will. The first chapter then uses human capacity for divine worship in an argument about blessedness beyond bodily death. This religious characterization of philosophy's proper end expresses Ficino's program, including his presentation of the ancient authorities he invokes.

Further passage references. Proem.1–Proem.102345678910; I.1.1

Places to read

1. Proem.1–4234Mind’s received light, purification, and self-knowledge direct its return toward God.
2. Proem.7–82The created mind’s mirror is used to contemplate and worship the Creator; philosophy is joined to religion.
3. I.1.1Human worship supplies a premise in the opening argument for blessedness beyond bodily death.

Translation in this edition

The Proem’s claims about Plato’s religious ends are Ficino’s presentation, and “right will” expresses a normative commitment. The image of inquiry finding the cause of causes should not be detached from its stated aim of reverence.

colo / cultus

colo / cultus. Printed forms: colamus; colat; cultu; cultum.

To worship or honour, and the corresponding worship. The human relation to God involves worship as well as knowledge; Ficino uses this relation as a premise in the opening argument about blessedness. References: Proem.2, Proem.3, Proem.5, Proem.7, I.1.1. See Worship and piety.

pietas / pius

pietas / pius. Printed forms: pietate; pietatis; pium; piumque.

Piety or a pious relation and duty. Ficino represents the unification of philosophical inquiry with contemplation and worship as Plato’s piety, not merely an inference about theoretical knowledge. References: Proem.1, Proem.3, Proem.5. See Worship and piety.

propitius / punire

propitius / punire. Printed forms: propitium; punire.

Favorable / punish. Ficino’s report of Plato contrasts favor toward the gentle and religious with punishment of the proud and impious. References: II.13.24. See Worship and piety.

spiritual aid and confidence

spiritual aid and confidence. Printed forms: Deo aspirante; divina dumtaxat ope confisi.

With God inspiring; relying solely on divine aid. Ficino credits divine assistance for Plato’s and his own philosophical work, preserving an authorial devotional statement rather than an independently evidenced causal mechanism. References: Proem.10. See Worship and piety.

veneror / veneratio

veneror / veneratio. Printed forms: veneratione; veneremur.

To venerate, and reverence directed toward an object. The cause of causes is to be venerated once found; the author hopes his work’s truth matches his reverence for divine truth. References: Proem.3, Proem.10. See Worship and piety.