This also was addressed to a nun, probably the same Poor Clare. It
explains again the three degrees of the mystic life, but with special
reference now to the cloister and the Blessed Eucharist. Some are in the
purgative way: if they persevere in virtue and progress in perfection,
they shall partake of the table, Ps. xxiii. 5, which is no other than the
banquet of the Holy Eucharist. Ruysbroeck dwells on the virtues necessary
for the worthy reception of the Sacrament, and narrates the manner of its
institution by our Divine Lord at the Last Supper, showing what were the
matter and form used by Christ. He discourses on the evidence of God's
love to be found in this mystery of the altar; and then refutes
objections as to the manner of the Divine Presence, expressly teaching
Transubstantiation. Those who approach the altar rails are divided by him
into seven classes, and here the author shows a wondrous and intimate
knowledge of the working of the human heart. The treatise closes with a
description of the contemplative life.