Читать книгу Centuries of Meditations - Thomas Traherne - Страница 19

you love men to as to desire their happiness with a thirst equal to the zeal of your own : till you delight in God for being good to all : you never enjoy the world. Till you more feel it than your private estate, and are more present in the hemisphere, considering the glories and the beauties there, than in your own house : till you remember how lately you were made, and how wonderful it was when you came into it : and more rejoice in the palace of your glory, than if it had been made but to-day morning.

" 31. Yet further, you never enjoy the world aright, till you so love the beauty of enjoying it that you are covetous and earnest to persuade others to enjoy it. And so perfectly hate the abominable corruption of men in despising it, that you had rather suffer the flames of hell than willingly be guilty of their error. There is so much blindness, and ingratitude, and damned folly in it. The world is a mirror of infinite beauty, yet no man sees it. It is a Temple of Majesty, yet no man regards it. It is a region of Light and Peace, did not men disquiet it. It is the Paradise of God. It is more to man since he is fallen, than it was before. It is the place of Angels, and the Gate of Heaven. When Jacob awaked out of his dream, he said, God is here, and I wist it not. How dreadful is this place ! This is none other than the House of God, and the gate of Heaven."

Are any words of mine needed in order to make clear how vastly different were the ideas and opinions of the writers of those typical passages ? Surely not. But

xxi