never
be
believed,
except
by
those
who
have
experi-enced
it;
for
the
heart
is
so
full
of
itself,
and
so
permeated
with
self-esteem,
that
if
God
did
not
treat
it
thus,
it
would
be
lost.
It
will
perhaps
be
asked,
If
the
gifts
of
God
are
productive
of
such
evil
consequences,
why
are
they
given?
God
gives
them,
in
the
fulness
of
His
goodness,
in
order
to
draw
the
soul
from
sin,
from
attachment
to
the
creature,
and
to
bring
it
back
to
Himself.
But
these
same
gifts
with
which
He
gratifies
it
—
that
He
may
wean
it
from
earfh
and
from
self
to
love
Him,
at
least
from
gratitude
—
we
use
to
excite
our
self-love
and
self-admiration,
to
amuse
ourselves
with
them;
and
self-love
is
so
deeply
rooted
in
man,
that
it
is
augmented
by
these
gifts
;
for
he
finds
in
himself
new
charms,
which
he
had
not
discovered
before
;
he
delights
in
them,
and
appropriates
to
himself
what
belongs
only
to
God.
It
is
true,
God
could
deliver
him
from
it,
but
He
does
not
do
it,
for
reasons
known
only
to
Himself,
The
soul,
thus
despoiled
by
God,
loses
a
little
of
its
self-
love,
and
begins
to
see
that
it
was
not
so
rich
as
it
fancied,
but
that
all
its
virtue
was
in
Christ
;
it
sees
