To so much Sin and Misery,
And yet to see our selves so safe from harm!
What Amulet, what hidden Charm
Could fortifie and raise the Soul
So far above them and controul
Such fierce Malignity?
The brightness and the glory which we see
Is made a greater Mystery.
VII
And while we feel how much our God doth love
The Peace of Sinners, how much move
And sue, and thirst, intreat, lament, and grieve
For all the Crimes in which they live,
And seek and wait and call again,
And long to save them from the pain
Of Sin, from all their Woe!
With greater thirst as well as grief we try,
How to relieve their Misery.
VIII
The life and splendour of Felicity,
Whose floods so overflowing be,
The streams of Joy which round about his Throne
Enrich and fill each Holy One,
Are so abundant, that we can
Spare all, even all to any Man!
And have it all ourselves!
Nay, have the more! We long to make them see
The sweetness of Felicity.
IX
While we contemplate their Distresses, how
Blind Wretches, they in bondage bow,
And tear and wound themselves, and vex and groan,
And chafe and fret so near His Throne
know not what they ail, but lye
Tormented in their Misery,
(Like Mad-men that are blind)
In works of darkness nigh such full Delight:
That they might find and see the sight,
X
What would we give! that these might likewise see
The Glory of His Majesty
The joy and fulness of that high delight
Whose Blessedness is infinite!
We would even cease to live, to gain
Them from their misery and pain,
And make them with us reign,
For they themselves would be our greatest Treasures,
When sav'd our own most Heavenly Pleasures.
XI
O holy Jesus who didst for us die,
And on the Altar bleeding lie,
Bearing all torment, pain, reproach, and shame,
That we, by vertue of the same,
Though enemies to God, might be
Redeem'd and set at liberty:
As thou didst us forgive,
So meekly let us love to others shew,
And live in Heaven on Earth below.
XII
Let's prize their Souls, and let them be our Gems,
Our Temples and our Diadems,
Our Brides, our Friends, our fellow-Members, Eyes,
Hands, Hearts and Souls, our Victories,
And Spoils and Trophies, our own Joys!
Compar'd to Souls all else are Toys;
O Jesus, let them be
Such unto us as they are unto Thee,
Vessels of Glory and Felicity!
XIII
How will they love us, when they find our Care
Brought them all thither where they are!
When they conceive what terror 'tis to dwell
In all the punishments of Hell;
And in a lively manner see,
O Christ, eternal Joys in thee!
How will they all delight
In praising Thee for us with all their might!
How sweet a Grace, how infinite!
[From p. 425]
OF CONTENTMENT
Contentment is a sleepy thing
If it in Death alone must die;
A quiet Mind is worse than Poverty,
Unless it from Enjoyment spring!
That's Blessedness alone that makes a King!
Wherein the Joys and Treasures are so great,
They all the powers of the Soul employ,
And fill it with a Work compleat,
While it doth all enjoy.
True Joys alone Contentment do inspire,
Enrich Content and make our Courage higher.
Content alone's a dead and silent Stone;
The real life of Bliss
Is Glory reigning in a Throne,
Where all Enjoyment is.
The Soul of Man is so inclin'd to see,
Without his Treasures no man's Soul can be,
Nor rest content Uncrown'd!
Desire and Love
Must in the height of all their Rapture move,
Where there is true Felicity.
Employment is the very life and ground
Of Life itself; whose pleasant Motion is
The form of Bliss:
All Blessedness a life with Glory Crown'd:
Life! Life is all; in its most full extent
Stretcht out to all things, and with all Content!
[From p. 456, Of Magnanimity]
And if the Glory and Esteem I have,
Be nothing else than what my Silver gave,
If, for no other ground,
I am with Love or Praises crown'd,
'Tis such a shame, such vile, such base Repute,
'Tis better starve than eat such empty Fruit.
APPENDIX
The poems in the foregoing pages are derived (as I have already
explained) from three separate MS. volumes, and from the author's
prose volume, entitled "Christian Ethicks." The bulk of them (ending
with "Goodness") are from the folio volume. The remainder--with the
exception of the three which are from the volume of "Meditations
and Devotions"--are from the prose volume entitled "Centuries of
Meditations." I have printed all the poems which I have found in these
various sources, with one exception. This is a poem which appears in
the folio volume, but which is there crossed through as though marked
for suppression.[M] Whether this mark of suppression was made by the
author or by another person there are no means of judging; but as the
poem in question is, as I think, somewhat below the level of its
companions, I have thought it better to reserve it for the appendix
than to print it between the poems "Thoughts" I. and II., where it
occurs in the MS.
BLISS
I
All Bliss
Consists in this,
To do as Adam did,
And not to know those superficial Toys
Which in the Garden once were hid.
Those little new-invented things,
Cups, saddles, crowns are childish joys,
So ribbands are and rings,
Which all our happiness destroys.
II
Nor God
In His abode,
Nor Saints, nor little boys,
Nor Angels made them; only foolish men,
Grown mad with custom, on those toys,
Which more increase their wants, do dote,
And when they older are do then
Those baubles chiefly note
With greedier eyes, more boys tho' men.
To enable the reader to judge whether my hypothesis that the author of
"A Serious and Patheticall Contemplation of the Mercies of God" is also
the author of the other poems contained in the present volume, is well
or ill-founded, I will now print the three poems which appear in the
above-mentioned work. They are as follows:
[LIFE'S BLESSEDNESS]
While I, O Lord, exalted by Thy hand
Above the skies, in glory seem to stand,
The skies being made to serve me, as they do,
While I thy Glories in thy Goodness view.
To be in Glory higher than the skies
Is greater bliss than 'tis in place to rise
Above the Stars: More blessed and divine
To live and see than like the Sun to shine.
O what Profoundness in my Body lies
For whom the Earth was made, the Sea, the Skies!
So greatly high our human Bodies are
That Angels scarcely may with these compare:
In all the heights of Glory seated, they
Above the Sun in Thine eternal day
Are seen to shine; with greater gifts adorned
Than Gold with Light or Flesh with Life suborned;
Suns are but Servants, Skies beneath their feet;
The Stars but Stones; Moons but to serve them meet.
Beyond all heights above the World they reign
In thy great Throne ordained to remain.
All Tropes are Clouds; Truth doth itself excel,
Whatever Heights Hyperboles can tell.
[THE RESURRECTION]
Then shall each Limb a spring of Joy be found,
And every member with its Glory crown'd:
While all the Senses, fill'd with all the Good
That ever Ages in them understood
Transported are: Containing Worlds of Treasure
At one delight with all their Joy and Pleasure,
From whence, like Rivers, Joy shall ever flow,
Affect the Soul, though in the Body grow,
Return again and make the Body shine
Like Jesus Christ, while both in one combine.
Mysterious Contracts are between the Soul,
Which touch the Spirits and by those its Bowl;
The Marrow, Bowels, Spirits, melt and move,
Dissolving ravish, teach them how to love.
He that could bring the Heavens thro' the eye,
And make the World within the Fancy lie,
By beams of Light that closing meet in one,
From all the parts of His celestial Throne,
Far more than this in framing Bliss can do,
Inflame the Body and the Spirit too:
Can make the Soul by Sense to feel and see,
And with her Joy the Senses wrap'd to be:
Yea, while the Flesh or Body subject lies
To those Affections which in Souls arise;
All holy Glories from the Soul redound,
And in the Body by the Soul abound,
Are felt within and ravish ev'ry Sense
With all the Godhead's glorious Excellence,
Who found the way Himself to dwell within,
As if even Flesh were nigh to Him of kin:
His Goodness, Wisdom, Power, Love Divine,
Make by the Soul convey'd the Body shine,
Not like the Sun (that earthly Darkness is)
But in the strengths and heights of all this bliss,
For God designed thy Body for His sake,
A Temple of the Deity to make.
THE WAYS OF WISDOM
"Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace."
These sweeter far than lilies are,
No roses may with these compare!
How these excel
No tongue can tell,
Which he that well and truly knows
With praise and joy he goes!
How great and happy's he that knows his ways
To be divine and heavenly Joys:
To whom each city is more brave
Than walls of pearl and streets which gold doth pave:
Whose open eyes
Behold the skies;
Who loves their wealth and beauty more
Than kings love golden ore!
Who sees the heavenly ancient ways
Of God the Lord with joy and praise,
More than the skies
With open eyes
Doth prize them all; yea, more than gems,
And regal diadems;
That more esteemeth mountains, as they are,
Than if they gold and silver were:
To whom the sun more pleasure brings
Than crowns and thrones and palaces to kings:
That knows his ways
To be the joys
And way of God--those things who knows
With joy and praise he goes!
I do not think it is necessary to spend much time or ink in
endeavouring to prove that the author of these three poems must have
been also the writer of the other poems contained in this volume.
Unless it be contended that no conclusion as to authorship can be drawn
from similarity of style, sentiment, and peculiarities of expression,
I do not see how it is possible for any one who carefully considers
the matter to entertain a reasonable doubt about it. Not even the
hypothesis of imitation by one author of the style of another can here
be entertained--for no man can imitate what is not known to him.
Every poet has his special topics, his favourite terms of expression,
his peculiar vocabulary, and even his pet rhymes, which are bound to
appear often in his verse. I think it may be truly said that there
is nothing in the three poems taken from "A Serious and Patheticall
Contemplation of the Mercies of God" which cannot be paralleled in
the other poems contained in this volume. All are characterised by
the same fervent piety, the same command of expression and musical
diction, the same dwelling upon the ideas that though God is necessary
to man, yet man also is necessary to God, and that the body (instead
of being, according to the ordinary theological belief, a _corpus
vile_ of corruption) is "a spring of Joy" crowned with glory; and
the same continual allusions to the great natural phenomena. When to
these resemblances we add the many small coincidences of words and
phrases which are always recurring in the poems, the evidence of common
authorship becomes too strong to be resisted.
Perhaps it may be worth while to quote a few instances of these
resemblances out of the many which might be given. In the second stanza
of "The Person" we have
Men's hands than angels' wings
Are truer wealth even here below.
In "Life's Blessedness" we have
So greatly high our human bodies are
That Angels scarcely may with them compare.
In the fifth stanza of "The Estate" we have
The laws of God, the Works he did create,
His ancient ways, are His and my Estate.
In "The Ways of Wisdom" we have
Who sees the heavenly ancient ways.
In "Thoughts IV." we have
The very heavens in their sacred worth
At once serve us and set his Glory forth.
In "Life's Blessedness" we have
The skies being made to serve me, as they do,
While I Thy Glories in Thy Goodness view.
In "The Influx" we have
No soul but stone, no man but clay am I.
In "Life's Blessedness" we have
The stars but stones.
The reader will doubtless have observed that our poet was very fond of
using "treasure" and a "pleasure" as rhymes. He seldom omits to bring
them in in a poem of any length, and it will be observed that they
are introduced in "The Resurrection." Certain defective rhymes (or no
rhymes) also occur pretty frequently, as "lay," "joy," "away," "enjoy."
In "The Ways of Wisdom" we have "ways" and "joys."
I think I have produced evidence enough to convince the reader of the
soundness of my contention: if not, I will undertake to produce a good
deal more. It is fortunate, indeed, that "A Serious and Patheticall
Contemplation" should have stolen into print (for neither at the time
of its publication nor subsequently does it appear to have attracted
any attention), since without it we should have had no clue to the
authorship of these poems.
* * * * *
Mr. W. T. Brooke has discovered in the British Museum a broadside with
the following title, "A Congratulatory Poem on the Right Honourable S^r
Orlando Bridgman, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England," which, he
suggests, may possibly have been written by the author of the poems
here printed. But though it is a poem of considerable merit, it has,
in my opinion, no correspondence in style with Traherne's poems. A few
lines from it, however, will not be altogether out of place here:
Were all your own Rolls searcht scarce should we find
That noble seat filled with so fit a mind:
So brave a mind as baseness ne'er allays,
So great a mind as greatness cannot raise,
So just a mind as interest can't seduce,
So wise a mind as colours can't abuse,
So large a mind as largest Trusts do crave,
So calm a mind as Equity should have.
High Courtships construed in the present tense,
Law's Oracle without perplexed sense,
A sober piety in a virtuoso,
And an Orlando without Furioso.
TRAHERNE'S "SERIOUS AND PATHETICALL CONTEMPLATION OF THE
MERCIES OF GOD"
This book would hardly be complete without some account of the above
work. It is a small 12mo volume of 146 pages, with an engraved
frontispiece. It is written--excepting the three pieces of verse which
I have already printed--in a kind of unrhymed verse, which is curiously
suggestive of the style of Whitman's "Leaves of Grass," particularly in
the frequent passages in which the author enumerates or catalogues, as
the American poet does, every object he can think of which bears any
relation to his theme. There were, of course, more points of unlikeness
than of likeness between the two poets, but they at least resembled
each other in their invincible optimism, as well as in the points
mentioned above. Whitman could not have known of the existence of the
"Serious and Patheticall Contemplation"; but had it been accessible
to him, it might well have been suspected that he was under some
obligations to it.
The booklet consists of a series of "Thanksgivings" for the Body, the
Soul, the Glory of God's Works, the Blessedness of God's Ways, the
Wisdom of His Word, &c. There is much poetry and beauty of expression
in these "Thanksgivings," and they are valuable also for the light
which they occasionally throw upon passages in the poems which might
else seem obscure. Thus the following passages from the "Thanksgiving
for the Body" may be profitably compared with "The Salutation" and
"Wonder":
I will praise Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made,
marvellous are Thy works; and that my Soul knoweth right well.
My substance was not hid from Thee when I was made in secret and
curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Thine eyes did see my substance yet being unperfect; and in thy book
all my members were written; which in continuance were fashioned
when as yet there was none of them.
* * * * *
O Lord!
Thou hast given me a body,
Wherein the glory of Thy Power shineth,
Wonderfully composed above the beasts,
Within distinguished into useful parts,
Beautified without with many ornaments.
Limbs rarely pois'd,
And made for Heaven:
Arteries fill'd
With celestial spirits:
Veins wherein blood floweth,
Refreshing all my flesh.
Like rivers:
Sinews fraught with the mystery
Of wonderful strength,
Stability,
Feeling.
O blessed be Thy glorious Name!
That Thou hast made it
A Treasury of Wonders,
Fit for its several Ages;
For Dissections,
For Sculptures in Brass,
For Draughts in Anatomy,
For the contemplation of the Sages.
I quote the following passage from "A Thanksgiving and Prayer for the
Nation" not merely because it is fine in itself, but also because it
affords us yet another interesting glimpse of the author's personality:
O Lord, the children of my people are Thy peculiar treasures,
Make them mine, O God, even while I have them,
My lovely companions, like Eve in Eden!
So much my treasure that all other wealth is without them
But dross and poverty.
Do they not adorn and beautifie the World,
And gratify my Soul which hateth Solitude!
Thou, Lord, hast made thy servant a sociable creature, for which I
praise thy name,
A lover of company, a delighter in equals;
Replenish the inclination which Thyself hath implanted,
And give me eyes
To see the beauty of that life and comfort
Wherewith those by their actions
Inspire the nations.
Their Markets, Tillage, Courts of Judicature, Marriages, Feasts and
Assemblies, Navys, Armies,
Priests and Sabbaths, Trades and Business, the voice of the
Bridegroom, Musical Instruments, the light of Candles,
and the grinding of Mills
Are comfortable, O Lord, let them not cease.
The riches of the land are all the materials of my felicity in
their hands:
They are my Factors, Substitutes, and Stewards;
Second Selves, who by Trade and Business animate my wealth,
Which else would be dead and rust in my hands;
But when I consider, O Lord, how they come unto thy
Temples, fill thy Courts, and sing Thy praises,
O how wonderful they then appear!
What Stars,
Enflaming Suns,
Enlarging Seas
Of Divine Affection,
Confirming Paterns,
Infusing Influence,
Do I feel in these!
Who are the shining light
Of all the land (to my very Soul:)
Wings and Streams
Carrying me unto thee,
The Sea of Goodness from whence they came.
Have we not here a very remarkable anticipation of the leading
thought of Whitman's "Leaves of Grass"? Do we not see in both poets
the same deep love of and delight in humanity, the same feeling of
comradeship and brotherhood with all men, the same hunger for sympathy
and reciprocal affection, the same pleasure in the common things of
life and nature, and the same frank acceptance of things as they are,
and not as they might be? I have said that there is more unlikeness
than likeness between the poets--but is it really so? Does not the
above passage show that beneath all apparent differences there was a
fundamental resemblance in their characters? To say the least, there
was this resemblance--that both of them found life supremely well worth
living, and never doubted, even when the clouds were blackest, that the
sun was shining beyond them.
THE WILL OF THOMAS TRAHERNE, AS REGISTERED IN THE PREROGATIVE COURT OF
CANTERBURY
Memorandum that Thomas Traherne late of Teddington in the County of
Midd Clerk deceased in the time of the sickness whereof he dyed and
vpon or about the Seaven and Twentyth of September 1674 having sent
for John Berdo Gent to come to him the said Thomas Traherne then lying
sick at the Lady Bridgmans house in Teddington and the said Mr Berdo
being come vnto him he the said Thomas Traherne being then of perfect
mind and memory vsed these or the like words to the said Mr. Berdo
viz^t. I haue sent for you to make my Will for mee or to that effect.
Whereupon the said Mr Berdo asked of him the said Mr Thomas Traherne
whether he would haue it made in Writing. To which the said Thomas
Traherne answeared in these or the like words viz^t. Noe I haue not so
much but that I can dispose of it by Word of Mouth or to that effect
And the said Thomas Traherne being then of perfect mind and memory by
Word of Mouth with an intent to make his Will and to settle and dispose
of his Goods and Estate did vtter and speake these or the like words
viz^t. I desire my Lady Bridgman and her daughter the Lady Charlott
should haue each of them a Ring. And to you (speaking to the said Mr.
Berdo) I give Tenn Pounds and to Mrs Cockson Tenn shillings and to
Phillipp Landman ffyve shillings and to John Rowland the Gardiner ffyve
shillings and to Mary the Laundry maid ffyve shillings and to all the
rest of the servants half a crowne apeece. My best Hatt I give it to
my brother Phillipp. And sister (speaking to Mrs Susan Traherne the
wife of his brother Phillipp which Susan was then present) I desire
you would keepe it for him. And all the rest of my Clothes that is
worth your acceptance I give to you. And for those that are not worth
your accepting I would have you to giue them to Phillipp Landman or to
whome you please with my old Hatt. All my Books I give to my brother
Phillipp. And (still speaking to the said Mrs Susan then present) I
make you and my brother Phillipp my whole Executors which words or the
like in effect The said Thomas Traherne being then of perfect mind
and memory did then utter Animo testandi and with an intent that the
same should stand and be as and for his last Will and Testament in the
presence and hearing of John Berdo Alice Cockson and Mary Linum.
John Berdo Alice Cockson The Mark of Mary Linum.
* * * * *
Proved at London 22 Oct 1674 by Susan Traherne, one of the Executors,
to whom administration was granted, power being reserved of making the
like grant to Philip Traherne, the other executor, should he ask for
the same.
Printed by BALLANTYNE & CO. LIMITED
Tavistock Street, London
BOOKS WRITTEN OR EDITED BY
BERTRAM DOBELL
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found to be of quite remarkable interest and curiosity.
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_Hamlet_, Act iv. sc. 5.
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CENTURIES OF MEDITATION
By THOMAS TRAHERNE
Traherne is no less excellent as a prose writer than as a poet; indeed,
I think it is not too much to say that his prose will bear comparison
with that of any English writer of the seventeenth century. It is
remarkable for its ease, spirit, eloquence, and suppleness--qualities
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[1602-1645]
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THE FLOATING ISLAND
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