For his text Ruysbroeck takes Matt. xxv. 6, _Ecce, sponsus venit, exite
obviam ei_. He makes a division into three books, treating respectively
of the active, the interior, and the contemplative life. Each book is
further subdivided into four parts, corresponding to the four divisions
of the text in each stage of perfection as follows. Ruysbroeck expounds
and illustrates (1) the role of the vision, _ecce_; man must turn his
eyes to God; (2) the divers comings of the Bridegroom, _sponsus venit_,
the manner, namely, in which God approaches the soul; (3) the going forth
of the soul on the path of the virtues, _exite_; (4) and finally, the
embrace of the soul and the heavenly spouse. In no one work does Blessed
Ruysbroeck give a complete account of his mystic teaching; but if his
system were to be examined and explained by any one book, it would
certainly be this of the _Spiritual Espousals_. It has always been
considered as his chief work, and in this light also Ruysbroeck himself
seems to have regarded it. He sent a copy of it himself to his friends in
Germany, and expressed the desire that it might be multiplied and made
known even to the foot of the mountains. In the four last chapters of the
second book the author confutes some current errors of the day,
apparently the teachings of Bloemardinne and almost certainly of Eckart.