he
said,
"
The
Lord
is
my
light
and
my
salvation,
whom
shall
I
fear?
The
Lord
is
the
strength
of
my
life;
of
whom
shall
I
be
afraid"
(Ps.
xxvii.
i).
A
heart
ravished
with
joy
no
longer
looks
at
itself,
nor
thinks
of
itself;
and
its
joy,
though
great,
is
not
an
object
of
contemplation.
The
soul
is
in
a
state
of
ravishment
and
ecstasy
which
cause
no
uneasiness,
because
God
has
enlarged
its
capacity
almost
to
infinitude.
Those
ecstasies
which
cause
the
loss
of
consciousness
are
the
efiect
of
human
imperfection,
and
are
nevertheless
the
admiration
of
men.
God
is,
as
it
were,
drawing
the
soul
out
of
itself
that
it
may
be
lost
in
Him
;
but
as
it
has
neither
sufficient
purity
nor
strength
to
bear
the
process,
it
becomes
necessary,
either
that
God
should
cease
thus
to
draw
it,
which
involves
the
cessation
of
the
ecstasy,
or
that
nature
should
succumb
and
die,
which
not
unfrequently
happens.
But
in
this
resurrection
life,
the
ecstasy
lasts,
not
for
a
few
hours
only,
but
for
ever,
without
either
violence
or
variation,
God
having
purified
and
strengthened
the
subject
of
it
to
the
extent
necessary
to
enable
it
to
bear
this
glorious
ravishment.
It
seems
to
me
