CHAPTER XXV.

Third stanza .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 181
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THE
DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL!
WITH AN EXPLANATION OF THE STANZAS COMPRISING THE WAY OF THE PERFECT UNION OF LOVE WITH GOD, SUCH AS IS POSSIBLE IN THIS LIFE; AND THE ADMIRABLE ENDOWMENTS OF THE SOUL WHICH HAS) ATTAINED TO IT.
ARGUMENT.
The stanzas to be explained are set forth at the beginning! of this book, then an explanation of each severally, the stanza being placed before it. After that an explanation of each line, which is also set before the explanation. The first two stanzas explain the two spiritual purgations of the sensual and spiritual part of man, and the other six the various and admirable effects of the spiritual enlightenmenjtj and union of love with God.
STANZAS.
I.
In a dark night.
With anxious love inflamed,
O, happy lot I
Forth unobserved I went,
My house being now at rest.
II.
In darkness and in safety.
By the secret ladder, disguised,
O, happy lot I
In darkness and concealment,
My house being ncfw at rest,
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THE DARK NIGHT
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In that happy night.
In secret, seen of none,
Seeing nought myself,
Without other light or guide
Save that which in my heart was burning.
IV.
That light guided me More surely than the noonday sun To the place where He was waiting for me. Whom I knew well,
And where none appeared.
v.
O, guiding night ;
O, night more lovely than the dawn ; O, night that hast united I The lover with His beloved,
1 And changed her into her love.
vi.
On my flowery bosom,
Kept whole for Him alone,
There He reposed and slept ;
And I _ cherished Him, and the waving Of the cedars fanned Him.
VII.
As His hair floated in the breeze That from the turret blew,
He struck me on the neck With His gentle hand.
And all sensation left me.
VIII.
I continued in oblivion lost.
My head was resting on my love ;
Lost to all things and myself.
And, amid the lilies forgotten.
Threw all my cares away.
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OF THE SOUL.
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EXPLANATION OF THE STANZAS.
Before we enter on an explanation of these, it is right we should understand that they are the words of the soul already in the state of perfection, which is the union of love with God, when it has gone through the straits, tribulations and severities, by means of the spiritual training, of the strait way of everlasting life, by which ordinarily the soul attains to this high and divine union with God. Of it our Saviour says in the Gospel,* * How narrow is the gate and strait is the way that leadeth to life, and few there are that find it/ This road being so strait, and they who find it being so few, the soul regards it as a great and joyful blessing that it has journeyed on it to the perfection of love, as it sings in the first stanza,, very rightly calling the strait road, a dark night, as may be seen further on in the words of the stanza. The soul, therefore, rejoicing in that it has travelled on this strait road whereby so great a blessing has come to it, sings as follows.
* S. Matt. vii. 14.
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THE DARK NIGHT