CHAPTER VIII.

ON VIRTUE — ALL VIRTUES GIVEN WITH GOD IN THIS DEGREE OF THE PRAYER OF THE HEART.

'X'HIS is the short and the sure way of acquiring virtue ; because, God being the principle of all virtue, we possess all virtue in possessing God.

More than this, I say that all virtue which is not given inwardly is a mask of yirtue, and like a gar-ment that can be taken oS, and will wear out But virtue communicated fundamentally is essential, true, and permanent ** The King's daughter is all glori-ous within" (Ps. xlv. 13). And there are none who practise virtue more constantly than those who ac-quire it in this way, though virtue is not a distinct subject of their thought

How hungry these loving ones are after suffering ! They think only of what can please their Beloved, and they begin to neglect themselves, and to think