THE objects of Felicity, and the way of enjoying them, are two
material themes; wherein to be instructed is infinitely desirable, because as
necessary as profitable. Whether of the two, the object or the way be more
glorious, it is difficult to determine. God is the object, and God is the way of
enjoying. God in all His excellencies, laws, and works, in all His ways and
counsels is the sovereign object of all Felicity. Eternity and Time, Heaven and
Earth, Kingdoms and Ages, Angels and Men are in Him to be enjoyed. In Him the
Fountain, in Him the End, in Him the Light, the Life, the Way, in Him the glory
and crown of all. Yet for distinction sake we will speak of several eminent
particulars, beginning with His attributes.
2
The Infinity of God is our enjoyment, because it is the region
and extent of His dominion. Barely as it comprehends infinite space, it is
infinitely delightful; because it is the room and the place of our treasures,
the repository of joys, and the dwelling place, yea the seat and throne, and
Kingdom of our souls. But as it is the Light wherein we see, the Life that
inspires us, the violence of His love, and the strength of our enjoyments, the
greatness and perfection of every creature,the amplitude that enlargeth us, and
the field wherein our thoughts expatiate without limit or restraint, the ground
and foundation of all our satisfactions, the operative energy and power of the
Deity; the measure of our delights, and the grandeur of our soul, it is more our
treasure, and ought more abundantly to be delighted in. It surroundeth us
continually on every side, it fills us, and inspires us. It is so mysterious,
that it is wholly within us, and even then it wholly seems and is without us. It
is more inevitably and constantly, more nearly and immediately our dwelling
place, than our cities and kingdoms and houses. Our bodies themselves are not so
much ours, or within us as that is. The immensity of God is an eternal
tabernacle. Why then we should not be sensible of that as much as of our
dwellings, I cannot tell, unless our corruption and sensuality destroy us. We
ought always to feel, admire, and walk in it. It is more clearly objected to the
eye of the soul, than our castles and palaces to the eye of the body. Those
accidental buildings may be thrown down, or we may be taken from them, but this
can never be removed, it abideth for ever. It is impossible not to be within it,
nay, to be so surrounded as evermore to be in the centre and midst of it,
wherever we can possibly remove, is inevitably fatal to every being.*
*This is the reading of the original MS.; but doubtless the author has here
omitted some words which would have made his meaning plain.
3
Creatures that are able to dart their thoughts into all spaces
can brook no limit or restraint; they are infinitely indebted to this illimited
extent, because were there no such infinity, there would be no room for their
imaginations; their desires and affections would be cooped up, and their souls
imprisoned. We see the heavens with our eyes, and know the world with our
senses. But had we no eyes, nor senses, we should see infinity like the Holy
Angels. The place wherein the world standeth, were it all annihilated would
still remain, the endless extent of which we feel so really and palpably, that
we do not more certainly know the distinctions and figures and bounds and
distances of what we see, than the everlasting expansion of what we feel and
behold within us. It is an object infinitely great and ravishing: as full of
treasures as full of room, and as fraught with joy as capacity. To blind men it
seemeth dark, but is all glorious within, as infinite is light and beauty as
extent and treasure. Nothing is in vain, much less infinity. Every man is alone
the centre and circumference of it. It is all his own, and so glorious, that it
is the eternal and incomprehensible essence of the Deity, A cabinet of infinite
value, equal in beauty, lustre, and perfection to all its treasures. It is the
Bosom of God, the Soul and Security of every Creature.
4
Were it not for this infinity, God's bounty would of necessity
be limited. His goodness would want a receptacle for its effusions. His gifts
would be confined into narrow room, and His Almighty Power for lack of a theatre
magnificent enough, a storehouse large enough, be straitened. But Almighty Power
includes Infinity in its own existence. For because God is infinitely able to do
all things, there must of necessity be an infinite capacity to answer that
power, because nothing itself is an obedient subject to work upon: and the
eternal privation of infinite perfections is to Almighty Power a Being capable
of all. As sure as there is a Space infinite, there is a Power, a Bounty, a
Goodness, a Wisdom infinite, a Treasure, a Blessedness, a Glory.
5
Infinity of space is like a painter's table, prepared for the
ground and field of those colours that are to be laid thereon. Look how great he
intends the picture, so great doth he make the table. It would be an absurdity
to leave it unfinished, or not to fill it. To leave any part of it naked and
bare, and void of beauty, would render the whole ungrateful to the eye, and
argue a defect of time or materials, or wit in the limner. As the table is
infinite so are the pictures. God's Wisdom is the art, His Goodness the will,
His Word the pencil, His Beauty and Power the colours, His Pictures are all His
Works and Creatures. Infinitely more real and more glorious, as well as more
great and manifold than the shadows of a landscape. But the Life of all is, they
are the spectator's own. He is in them as in his territories, and in all these
views his own possessions.
6
One would think that besides infinite space there could be no
more room for any treasure. Yet to show that God is infinitely infinite, there
is infinite room besides, and perhaps a more wonderful region making this to be
infinitely infinite. No man will believe besides the space from the centre of
the earth to the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills, there should be any
more. Beyond those bounds perhaps there may, but besides all that space that is
illimited and present before us, and absolutely endless every way, where can
there be any room for more? This is the space that is at this moment only
present before our eye, the only space that was, or that will be, from
everlasting to everlasting. This moment exhibits infinite space, but there is a
space also wherein all moments are infinitely exhibited, and the everlasting
duration of infinite space is another region and room of joys. Wherein all ages
appear together, all occurrences stand up at once, and the innumerable and
endless myriads of years that were before the creation, and will be after the
world is ended, are objected as a clear and stable object, whose several parts
extended out at length, give an inward infinity to this moment, and compose an
eternity that is seen by all comprehensors and enjoyers.
7
Eternity is a mysterious absence of times and ages: an endless
length of ages always present, and for ever perfect. For as there is an
immovable space wherein all finite spaces are enclosed, and all motions carried
on and performed; so is there an immovable duration, that contains and measures
all moving durations. Without which first the last could not be; no more than
finite places, and bodies moving without infinite space. All ages being but
successions correspondent to those parts of the Eternity wherein they abide, and
filling no more of it, than ages can do. Whether they are commensurate with it
or no, is difficult to determine. But the infinite immovable duration is
Eternity, the place and duration of all things, even of infinite space itself:
the cause and end, the author and beautifier, the life and perfection of
all.
8
Eternity magnifies our joys exceedingly, for whereas things in
themselves began, and quickly end; before they came, were never in being; do
service but for few moments; and after they are gone pass away and leave us for
ever, Eternity retains the moments of their beginning and ending within itself:
and from everlasting to everlasting those things were in their times and places
before God, and in all their circumstances eternally will be, serving Him in
those moments wherein they existed, to those intents and purposes for which they
were created. The swiftest thought is present with Him eternally: the creation
and the day of judgment, His first consultation, choice and determination, the
result and end of all just now in full perfection, ever beginning, ever passing,
ever ending with all the intervals of space between things and things: As if
those objects that arise many thousand years one after the other were all
together. We also were ourselves before God eternally; and have the joy of
seeing ourselves eternally beloved and eternally blessed, and infinitely
enjoying all the parts of our blessedness; in all the durations of eternity
appearing at once before ourselves, when perfectly consummate in the Kingdom of
Light and Glory. The smallest thing by the influence of eternity, is made
infinite and eternal. We pass through a standing continent or region of ages,
that are already before us, glorious and perfect while we come to them. Like men
in a ship we pass forward, the shores and marks seeming to go backward, though
we move and they stand still. We are not with them in our progressive motion,
but prevent the swiftness of our course, and are present with them in our
understandings. Like the sun we dart our rays before us, and occupy those spaces
with light and contemplation which we move towards, but possess not with our
bodies. And seeing all things in the light of Divine knowledge, eternally
serving God, rejoice unspeakably in that service, and enjoy it all.
9
His omnipresence is our ample territory or field of joys, a
transparent temple of infinite lustre, a strong tower of defence, a castle of
repose, a bulwark of security, a palace of delights, an immediate help, and a
present refuge in the needful time of trouble, a broad and a vast extent of fame
and glory, a theatre of infinite excellency, an infinite ocean by means whereof
every action, word, and thought is immediately diffused like a drop of wine in a
pail of water, and everywhere present, everywhere seen and known, infinitely
delighted in, as well as filling infinite spaces. It is the Spirit that pervades
all His works, the life and soul of the universe, that in every point of space
from the centre to the heavens, in every kingdom in the world, in every city, in
every wilderness, in every house, every soul, every creature, in all the parts
of His infinity and eternity sees our persons; loves our virtues, inspires us
with itself, and crowns our actions with praise and glory. It makes our honour
infinite in extent, our glory immense, and our happiness eternal. The rays of
our light are by this means darted from everlasting to everlasting. This
spiritual region makes us infinitely present with God, Angels, and Men in all
places from the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills, throughout all the
unwearied durations of His endless infinity, and gives us the sense and feeling
of all the delights and praises we occasion, as well as of all the beauties and
powers, and pleasures and glories which God enjoyeth or createth.
10
Our Bridegroom and our King being everywhere, our Lover and
Defender watchfully governing all worlds, no danger or enemy can arise to hurt
us, but is immediately prevented and suppressed, in all the spaces beyond the
utmost borders of those unknown habitations which He possesseth. Delights of
inestimable value are there preparing, for everything is present by its own
existence. The essence of God therefore being all light and knowledge, love and
goodness, care and providence, felicity and glory, a pure and simple act, it is
present in its operations, and by those acts which it eternally exerteth is
wholly busied in all parts and places of His dominion, perfecting and completing
our bliss and happiness.
Notes on The Fifth Century
Meditation10. Here the manuscript ends. That the author
intended to continue his work there can be no doubt, and we may therefore
conclude that he was prevented from finishing it by his too early death. It is a
loss to us that it is thus incomplete: yet in the work as it stands we have
perhaps a sufficiently full statement of the main points of the author's
religion and philosophy. Like all other creeds it will perhaps only appeal to
those minds which are prepared to receive it; but it is one, nevertheless; which
must command the respect even of those who are least inclined to accept its
teachings. It presents Christianity (or at least Protestant Christianity) in its
most favourable aspect; nor is it likely that as an eloquent and persuasive
exposition of its leading doctrines it will ever be surpassed or superseded:
There are no doubt some few things in it which even devout believers will no
longer hold themselves bound to accept as necessary to salvation; but on the
whole, if the Christian faith is not to undergo an entire transformation at the
hands of its modern apologists, it must be expounded as Traherne expounds it,
not as a collection of soulless dogmas embodied in formal confessions of faith,
but as a great reality, which is of the deepest concernment to all men, and
without which the life of man is an inexplicable enigma.
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