Section
III.
THIRD
DEGREE
OF
THE
SPOLIATION
OF
THE
SOUL,
WHICH
CONCERNS
ITS
BEAUTY,
OR
THE
PERCEPTIBLE
ACTION
OF
DIVINE
VIRTUE
—
HOW
GOD
THUS
LEADS
THE
SOUL
TO
SELF-DESPAIR
AND
TO
TRUE
PURITY
—
INTERVAL
OF
REST,
FOLLOWED
BY
THE
INCREASE
OF
THE
PRECEDING
OPERA-TIONS,
TILL
THEY
END
IN
MYSTIC
DEATH.
All
this
would
be
but
little
if
the
bride
still
re-tained
her
beauty;
but
the
Bridegroom
robs
her
of
that
also.
Hitherto
she
has
been
despoiled
of
gifts,
graces,
and
favours
(facility
for
good)
:
she
has
lost
all
good
works,
such
as
outward
charity,
care
for
the
poor,
readiness
to
help
others,
but
she
has
not
lost
the
divine
virtues.
Here,
however,
these
too
must
be
lost,
so
far
as
their
practice
is
concerned,
or
rather
the
habit
of
exercising
them,
as
acquired
by
herself,
in
order
to
appear
fair
:
in
reality,
they
are
all
the
while
being
more
strongly
implanted.
She
loses
virtue
as
virtue,
but
it
is
only
that
she
may
find
it
again
in
Christ.
This
degraded
bride
becomes,
as
she
imagines,
filled
with
pride.
She,
who
was
so
patient,
who
suffered
so
easily,
finds
that
she
can
suffer
nothing.
Her
senses
revolt
