CHAPTER XV. |

The second stanza and its explanation. \
In darkness and in safety , (
By the secret ladder, disguised,
O happy lot !
In darkness and concealment.
My house being now at rest.
In this stanza the soul goes on singing still of certain properties of the darkness of this night, speaking again (
of the happy lot which befel it through them. It speaks (
of them in answering an implied objection, observing I
that no one is to think that because in this dark night it I
passed through so many storms of affliction, doubt, fear ^
and horror, as I said before,* it had therefore run any /
risk of being lost ; yea rather, it found safety in the darkness, because in the darkness it was free and /
skilfully escaped from its enemies who were ever ;
hindering its departure. \
2. In the darkness of the night it changed its \
garments, and disguised itself in three colours, of which I shall speak hereafter, f It sallied forth unknown to the whole of its household by a most secret ladder, which, as I shall show in the proper place, is a living (
faith — in such secrecy and silence, for the better (
execution of its purpose, that it could not possibly be in greater security ; especially now, because in the purgative night, the desires, passions, and affections of y
♦ Ch. v. § 8. ] f Ch. xxi. f
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CHAP. XVI.] OF THE SOUL.
the soul are asleep, mortified, and subdued ; and these are they which, awake and active, would never have consented to that departure.