From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordZeal is fervent concern expressed in energetic pursuit.
- In TraherneAt the Cross, zeal is learned together with patience, meekness, self-denial, and love.
- In this editionDo not import a uniformly pejorative sense of fanaticism.
- A place to beginZeal is learned at the Cross alongside gentleness and charity.
Meaning
Zeal is fervent concern expressed in energetic pursuit. Its moral quality depends on the object pursued and the charity governing its expression.
Use in the book
At the Cross, zeal is learned together with patience, meekness, self-denial, and love. Its exemplar is Christ’s comprehensive concern, not aggression in the name of a private cause. Knowledge of one’s inheritance should awaken zeal for the salvation of all rather than contentment with exclusive security.
Traherne also translates zeal into faithful opportunities. Divine friendship calls for public honour of God, speech that makes goodness known, and a refusal to neglect even a small available act of service. Present life is especially precious because such fidelity occurs amid difficulty and incomplete sight. Zeal therefore measures sustained seriousness about love’s ends, rather than the loudness of religious display or a merely excited state of feeling.
Places to read
In this edition
Do not import a uniformly pejorative sense of fanaticism. The cited combinations with patience, meekness, and universal concern specify the character of the zeal Traherne commends.
Source note
Primary text: I.61, I.62, II.98, IV.93. No 2026 editorial notes used.