Читать книгу Centuries of Meditations - Thomas Traherne - Страница 18

Of this passage all I will say is that I believe it could have been written only by one who was shut up within the walls of a monastery, and whose ideas and interests were bounded by its walls. Now let us listen to the voice of one whose sympathies knew no narrow limitations ; whose interest in things human was only less than his interest in things divine ; and within whose veins the pulse of the universe never ceased to throb with the fullest current of intense vitality.

“28. Your enjoyment of the world is never right till every morning you awake in Heaven ; see yourself in your Father's Palace ; and look upon the skies, the earth, and the air, as Celestial Joys : having such a reverend esteem of all, as if you were among the Angels. The bride of a monarch in her husband's chamber, hath no such causes of delight as you.

“29. You never enjoy the world aright till the sea itself floweth in your veins, till you are clothed with the heavens and crowned with the stars : and perceive yourself to be the sole heir of the whole world, and more than so, because men are in it who are every one sole heirs as well as you. Till you can sing and rejoice and delight in God, as misers do in gold, and kings in sceptres, you never enjoy the world.

“30. Till your spirit filleth the whole world, and the stars are your jewels : till you are as familiar with the ways of God in all ages as with your walk and table : till you are intimately acquainted with that shady nothing out of which the world was made : till

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