The neck signifies strength; it is of ivory, because the purity of strength consists in being in God, and for this reason the strength of the Spouse is absolutely pure. Her strength is a tower where the soul is sheltered from every danger, and whence she discovers the approach of her enemies. The understanding is referred to as the eyes, and when this faculty is lost in God it is become a fish-pool, a source of every blessing and a remedy for every ill. God employs the mind which has been willingly given up for His sake, in a thousand great undertakings that are useful for the good of the neighbor. These pools are at the gate of the daughters of the multitude. This child of the multitude is no other than the imagination and fancy, which disturb and injure the clearness of the mind before the mystical division is effected. But now this is no longer the case, for she is no longer inconvenienced by the frivolous and impertinent intrusion of the senses; God having, as it were, set up a door between the spirit and the senses. The nose is the symbol of prudence, which is become like the tower of Lebanon, because it is strong and impregnable, being the very providence and prudence of God, bestowed upon the soul in consideration of its simplicity, by which it has lost all human prudence. This celestial prudence looks but one way: it sees nothing but the divine movement of Providence, and all its foresight consists in receiving what comes from moment to moment. O Prudence destitute of prudence! how dost thou surpass the prudence of men, even the most prudent!