A Glimpse of Traherne’s Writings

Thomas Traherne’s life was illuminated by an intense vision of happiness and he communicated this joy and mystery in his extensive writings, which are works of great depth and beauty.

O Divine Love, the Sweet Harmony of Souls; the Musick of Angels, the Joy of Gods own Heart … Com and Live in me, that I may Know the Law of Libertie!
(The Kingdom of God, Cap.XI.)

You are as prone to Love as the sun to shine.
(Centuries 2.65.)

The sweetness of Repose, the Delightfull vicissitudes of Night and Day, the Early Sweetness and Spring of the Morning, the Perfume and Beauty in the cool of the Evening.
(Centuries 2.9.)

Walking

To walk abroad is, not with Eys,
But Thoughts, the Fields to see and prize;
Els may the silent Feet,
Like Logs of Wood,
Mov up and down, and see no Good,
Nor Joy nor Glory meet.

Ev’n Carts and Wheels their place do change,
But cannot see; tho very strange
The Glory that is by:
Dead Puppets may
Mov in the bright and glorious Day,
Yet not behold the Sky.

And are not Men than they more blind,
Who having Eys yet never find
The Bliss in which they mov:
Like Statues dead
They up and down are carried,
Yet neither see nor lov.

To walk is by a thought to go;
To mov in Spirit to and fro;
To mind the Good we see;
To taste the Sweet;
Observing all the things we meet
How choice and rich they be.

Wonder

A Nativ Health and Innocence
Within my Bones did grow,
And while my God did all his Glories show
I felt a vigor in my sense
That was all SPIRIT: I within did flow
With Seas of Life like Wine;
I nothing in the World did know
But ‘twas Divine.

Love cannot be saleable or Mercenary. It is the Mother of Peace, the Shield of Safety, the Mine of Friendship, the Tree of Life, the Sun of Heaven.
(The Kingdom of God, page 438)

Without lov, all is discord and confusion.
(Christian Ethicks)