evils as have been spoken of, it opens it for the Spirit of Almighty God to enter into the soul, who willingly inhabits souls mortified to the flesh and to the delights of the senses. It likewise opens it to let in the spirit of prayer, devotion and contemplation; for our Lord loves to converse with souls that are inclosed gardens, and there He speaks to their heart, consorting and communicating unto them His gifts. And for this cause, when we pray, He commands us to " enter into" the " chamber" of our heart, and to " shut the door" [1] of our senses, that nothing may enter in to disturb our prayer and to interrupt the conversation we have with our heavenly Father.
ii. Besides this, the senses, when they perform their acts according to the will of Almighty God, which is the end of their mortification, are the doors and windows by which life enters; and what they see and hear, taste and speak, assists them to obtain the spiritual life of grace and augmentation of it. Hence I am to infer what St James the apostle says, that as " a fountain" sends not " forth" out of the same hole sweet and bitter water, [2] so from the self-same mouth ought not to proceed " blessing and cursing," good words to bless Almighty God, and evil words to curse our neighbour; but all ought to be good words, pleasing to God, profitable to my neighbour, and agreeable to my own conscience. And in like manner, in at the self-same eyes and ears ought not to enter life and death, but they ought always to be shut to all that is an occasion of death, and open to that which should give me life; and in this consists their true abnegation.
iii. To this I should add, that the modesty and mortification of the senses is a sign and testimony of the interior virtues; it much edifies our neighbours, and casts from it such a fragrance that it fills the house of the Church and
