contrary to the virtues is to live in sin, as Christ has said: "He
that is not with me is against me." He who is not humble is proud,
and he who is proud belongs not to God. We must always possess a
virtue and be in a state of grace, or possess what is contrary to
that virtue and be in a state of sin. May every man examine and
prove himself, and order his life as I have here described.

ON THE DESIRE TO KNOW GOD AS HE IS, IN THE NATURE OF HIS GODHEAD

THE man who thus lives, in this perfection, as I have here described
it, and who devotes all his life and actions to the honour and glory
of God, and who seeks and loves God above all things, is often
seized by the desire to see and know Christ, this Bridegroom who was
made man for love of him, who laboured in love even till death, who
drove away from him sin and the enemy, who gave him His grace, who
gave him Himself, who left him His sacraments and promised him His
kingdom. When a man considers all this, he is exceedingly desirous
to see Christ his Bridegroom, and to know what He is in Himself
While He only knows Him in His works he is not satisfied. So he will
do like Zacchasus, the publican, who desired to see Jesus Christ. He
will go in front of the crowd--that is to say, the multitude of the
creatures, for they make us so little and short, that we cannot
perceive God. And he will climb the tree of faith, which grows from
above downwards, for its roots are in the Godhead. This tree has
twelve branches, which are the twelve articles of faith. The lower
branches speak of the humanity of Christ, and of the things which
concern the salvation of our body and soul. The higher part of the
tree speaks of the Godhead, of the Trinity of the Divine Persons and
the Unity of the Divine Nature. A man will strive to reach the unity
at the top of the tree, for it is there that Jesus must pass with