CHAPTER VI.

SECOND DEGREE OF THE PASSIVE WAY OF FAITH— SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THIS DEGREE — ENTRANCE INTO IT AND USELESS EFFORTS TO AVOID IT — GRADATIONS AND ADVANCEMENTS IN THIS DEGREE, IN WHICH OCCUR FREQUENT MANIFESTATIONS OF CHRIST TO THE SOUL — THE USES AND ABUSES WHICH IT MAKES OF THEM, BY WHICH IT IS BROUGHT TO MYSTICAL DEATH, OR TO THE THIRD DEGREE OF THIS PASSIVE WAY OF FAITH.

nPHE torrent having come to the brow of the hill, enters at the same time into the second degree of the fassive way of faith. This soul, which was so peacefully resting on the mountain-top, had no thought of leaving it. However, for want of a declivity, these waters of Heaven by their stay upon earth were becoming tainted ; for there is this difference between stagnant waters which have no outlet, and those which are in motion and have an outlet, that the first, with the exception of the sea, and those large lakes which resemble it, grow putrid, and their want of motion causes their destruc-