SECT. II.--SECOND DEGREE OF THE SPOLIATION OF THE SOUL 164 SECT. III.--THIRD DEGREE OF SPOLIATION 169 SECT. IV.--ENTRANCE INTO MYSTICAL DEATH 179 VIII. THIRD DEGREE OF THE PASSIVE WAY OF FAITH, IN ITS CONSUMMATION 185 IX. FOURTH DEGREE OF THE PASSIVE WAY OF FAITH, WHICH IS THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE DIVINE LIFE 193 _PART II._ I. MORE PARTICULAR DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RESURRECTION LIFE 211 II. STABILITY, EXPERIENCE, ELEVATION, AND EXTREME PURITY OF THE ABANDONED SOUL 221 III. PERFECT UNION OR DEIFORMITY 230 IV. ACTIONS AND SUFFERINGS OF THOSE IN A STATE OF UNION WITH GOD 239 _SPIRITUAL TORRENTS._ BY MADAME J. M. B. DE LA MOTHE-GUYON. "Let judgment run down as waters; and righteousness as a mighty stream."--Amos v. 24. SPIRITUAL TORRENTS. _PART I._ CHAPTER I. SOULS UNDER DIVINE INFLUENCE ARE IMPELLED TO SEEK AFTER GOD, BUT IN DIFFERENT WAYS--REDUCED TO THREE, AND EXPLAINED BY A SIMILITUDE. As soon as a soul is brought under divine influence, and its return to God is true and sincere, after the first cleansing which confession and contrition have effected, God imparts to it a certain instinct to return to Him in a most complete manner, and to become united to Him. The soul feels then that it was not created for the amusements and trifles of the world, but that it has a centre and an end, to which it must be its aim to return, and out of which it can never find true repose. This instinct is very deeply implanted in the soul, more or less in different cases, according to the designs of God; but all have a loving impatience to purify themselves, and to adopt the necessary ways and means of returning to their source and origin, like rivers, which, after leaving their source, flow on continuously, in order to precipitate themselves into the sea. You will observe that some rivers move gravely and slowly, and others with greater velocity; but there are rivers and _torrents_ which rush with frightful impetuosity, and which nothing can arrest. All the burdens which might be laid upon them, and the obstructions which might be placed to impede their course, would only serve to redouble their violence. It is thus with souls. Some go on quietly towards perfection, and never reach the sea, or only very late, contented to lose themselves in some stronger and more rapid river, which carries them with itself into the sea. Others, which form the second class, flow on more vigorously and promptly than the first. They even carry with them a number of rivulets; but they are slow and idle in comparison with the last class, which rush onward with so much impetuosity, that