The Bridegroom finding His bride entirely free from self, dissolved and prepared for the consummation of the marriage, and to be received into a state of permanent and lasting union with Himself, admires her beauty; He tells her that she is beautiful because He finds in her a certain charm and sweetness which approaches the divine. Thou art comely, He continues, as Jerusalem; for since thou hast lost everything of thine own to devote it wholly to Me, thou art adorned and embellished with all that is Mine, and art joint possessor of all my inheritance. I find thee entirely fitted to be My dwelling-place as I desire to be thine; thou shalt dwell in Me and I in thee.

But while thou hast so many charms and so much sweetness for Me, thou art terrible to the devil and to sin as an army in array; thou puttest to flight thine enemies without a blow, for they fear thee as much as Me, since thou art become one spirit with God (1 Cor. vi.17), by the loss of thyself in Me.

Ah! poor souls! ye who are engaged your whole lifetime in fierce combat and achieve but insignificant victories, though at the cost of many wounds! if ye would but earnestly give yourselves up to God and abandon yourselves to Him, you would be more formidable and more terrible than an infinite army drawn up in order of battle! [40]