himself in all his works and in all his life towards the honour and
glory of God, and seeks rest in God above all things, he will wait
in humility and patience and abandonment of self and in the hope of
new riches and new gifts, and he will not be troubled or anxious
whether it pleases God to grant His gifts or to refuse them. So men
prepare themselves for receiving an internal life of desires; even
as a vessel is fitted and prepared, into which a precious liquid is
to be poured. There is no vessel more noble than the loving soul,
and no drink more necessary than the grace of God. Man will thus
offer to God all his works and all his life, in a simple and right
intention, and in a zest above his intention, above himself, and
above everything, in the sublime unity in which God and the loving
spirit are united without intermediary.

ON THE FIRST MODE OR DEGREE OF THE FIRST SPIRITUAL COMING OF CHRIST

THE first coming of Christ to those who are engaged in the exercises
of desire is an internal and sensible current from the Holy Spirit,
which impels and attracts us to all the virtues. We shall compare
this coming to the splendour and power of the sun, which, so soon as
it is risen, enlightens and warms the whole world in the twinkling
of an eye. In the same way Christ, the eternal sun, burns and
shines, dwelling at the highest point of the spirit, and enlightens
and fires the lower part of man--that is to say, his physical heart
and sense-faculties, and this is accomplished in less time than the
twinkling of an eye, for the work of God is prompt; but the man in
whom it takes place ought to be internally seeing by means of his
spiritual eyes.

The sun burns in the East, in the middle of the world, on the