CHAPTER XXI.
Of the Guard of the Outward Senses, and how from these we may pass to the Contemplation of the Divinity.
GREAT care and constant practice are necessary for the right control and guard of our outward senses. For the appetite, which may be regarded as the captain of our corrupt nature, is madly bent upon seeking pleasures and satisfaction; and, being incapable of itself of obtaining them, it makes use of the senses as its soldiers, and as natural instruments for laying hold of their objects, the images of which it takes, appropriates, and impresses on the mind. From this a sensation of pleasure arises, which, by means of the close connexion between the soul and the flesh, spreads itself through all the sensual part of our nature, and thus soul and body are possessed by a common contagion, which corrupts the whole.
You see the evil; now mark the remedy.
Be careful not to let your senses wander as they like; nor to employ them merely for the sake of pleasure, without any good end, or without having in view either usefulness or necessity. And if, through want of watchfulness, they have already wandered too far, recall them at once,
