have
said
that
very
few
pass
the
other
degrees,
so
I
say
that
far
less
pass
this
one.
Many
people
have
been
astonished
to
see
very
holy
persons,
who
have
lived
like
angels,
die
in
terrible
anguish,
and
even
despairing
of
their
salvation.
It
is
because
they
have
died
in
this
mystical
death
;
and
as
God
wished
to
promote
their
advancement,
because
they
were
near
their
end,
He
redoubled
their
sorrow.
The
work
of
stripping
the
soul
must
be
left
wholly
to
God.
He
will
do
the
work
perfectly,
and
the
soul
will
second
the
spohation
and
the
death,
with-out
putting
hindrances
in
the
way.
But
to
do
the
work
for
ourselves
is
to
lose
everything,
and
to
make
a
vile
state
of
a
divine
one.
There
are
per-sons
who,
hearing
of
this
spoliation,
have
effected
it
for
themselves,
and
remain
always
stationary
;
for
as
the
stripping
is
their
own
work,
God
does
not
clothe
them
with
Himself.
The
design
of
God
in
stripping
the
soul
is
to
clothe
it
again.
He
only
impoverishes
that
He
may
enrich,
and
He
substi-tutes
Himself
for
all
that
He
takes
away,
which
cannot
be
the
case
with
those
whose
spoliation
is
their
own
work.
They
indeed
lose
the
gifts
of
